The eruption of violence and the killing of hundreds of community members in Mangu, Plateau State, on Monday have sent shockwaves throughout the state, with the affected people demanding a special court to address their concerns and bring justice.
Suspected herdsmen were said to have attacked many towns, including Fungzai and Kubwat in Mangu LGA, burning down houses, damaging farmlands, and murdering over 100 people.
17 settlements were impacted, according to Solomon Maren, a member of the House of Representatives from the Mangu/Bokkos federal constituency.
This comes as community leaders have accused the federal government and police of missing the competence and political will to safeguard minority tribes in the state, while also criticizing the state governor, Simon Lalong, for failing to show up and empathize with them.
The state government, on the other hand, has taken steps to boost the presence of security officers in the impacted regions in order to restore community confidence and create dialogue between the two tribal tribes at odds.
Meanwhile, the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has reacted to allegations that Fulani herders are to blame for the deaths by claiming that they, too, are victims of the violence that has engulfed the villages and the state.
The two sides are, however, directing some level of blame to the police and other security agencies for failing to protect them or being part of the problem.
On Friday, a representative of the communities where the killings took place, the National President of Mwaghavul Development Association (MDA), Joseph Gwankat, said the police have demonstrated low capacity and political will to secure minority tribes in Nigeria.
And in the wake of the killings, which have now left some 125 people dead and more than 20,000 otters displaced, the national president and the affected communities are calling for the introduction of state police as a means of protecting their lives and livelihoods.
The community leader, addressing the media, disclosed that over 125 corpses have so far been buried, apart from those seen floating inside mining ponds. This is even though many people are still missing and cannot be accounted for.
According to him, 20,000 people were displaced, and 20 communities were run over by the suspected bandits in less than 48 hours.
He explained that “up until now, the state government did not deem it necessary to visit the displaced persons or send any support in terms of relief materials to the affected people to alleviate their suffering.
“The governor’s representatives and some members of the state executive council and heads of security agencies, which include the commissioner of police in the state, only visited the Palace of the Mishkaham Mwaghavul Da John Putmang Hirse and headed back to Jos immediately. They did go to the affected communities to comfort them or at least see the level of destruction by this herder militia.”
Gwankat insisted that what is happening to them can best be described as genocide, adding that it is a systematic and deliberate ethnic cleansing of minority tribes in Nigeria.
According to him, from Bwai to Sabongari, all the people there have been killed and their houses burned by the Fulani.
“These people will come with their cattle to destroy our farm lands, and if you talk, they will kill you. He appealed to the government to provide security for the entire people of Mangu LGA to prevent further killings in the area”.
But the Plateau state chairman of Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Alhaji Mohammad Nuru Abdullahi.
In his reaction to the allegation that Fulani herders are the ones carrying out the killing, he said that anything that happens in Nigeria today will make people start to suspect a Fulani man.
He stressed that this has been there for a long time and has not been resolved.
Everything they blame on the Fulani without proper investigation has destroyed Fulani property worth millions of naira in Kombum and Bwai districts.
The chairman also narrated how vultures, dogs, and other large animals feast on the dead bodies of Fulani men and their cattle, adding that the dead bodies are lying in the bush without a befitting burial, either Islamic or traditional rites.
He said hundreds of their livestock, which includes cows, goats, sheep, turkeys, ducks, and chickens, are roaming free, and killers of the herders are hunting them for their personal use.
He said food items and household property, like motorcycles, water pumps, and other valuables, are either looted or burned down by their enemies.
According to him, these nefarious activities left thousands of their community members as refugees in their motherland in some parts of Mangu, Bokkos, Barki Ladi, Jos East, and other states like Bauchi.
He alleged that security personnel led mobs to burn their houses, stressing that yesterday at about 5 p.m., security personnel chased away their people from Jakchang in Panyam District, and the mobs went ahead and burned their houses and their property in the presence of the security personnel.
“This is a calculated attempt to annihilate the Fulani from not only Mangu LGA but the entire Plateau State. So we are now crying out to the world to come and assist us.
Today, hundreds of people, including children, women, and the elderly, do not have food to eat to survive and are being harassed, intimidated, and threatened by people they have known for a long time.
According to him, what is happening in Plateau State is a systematic approach to starting a genocide mission against the Fulani community in the state. The crusade against Fulani, he said, is fully fledged in the entire Mangu LGA, with the exception of Gindiri chiefdom.
He said that like in Bwai, Kombum, Kerang district, and the entire Mangu South and West, today Fulani are being anihilated from there. They were brutally killed, and the corpses are lying on the ground with vultures feasting on them.
Meanwhile, the Plateau State Security Council has held an emergency meeting to review and assess the recent attacks in various villages in Mangu Local Government, which left many dead, property destroyed, and others injured.
The security meeting, which was held at the Government House in Rayfield, Jos, was chaired by Governor Simon Bako Lalong.
Governor Lalong, while briefing newsmen after the meeting, said the council reviewed the situation and resolved that all suspects arrested for allegedly carrying out the attack must be immediately prosecuted in a transparent and open manner to send a strong message to the public that no criminal conduct will go unpunished.
He said the council condemned the dastardly act and remains committed to sustaining the search for other fleeing perpetrators who must be arrested and dealt with swiftly.
The governor also stated that the security council mandated the security agencies to sustain the presence of their personnel on the ground to rebuild confidence and halt any further affront to innocent citizens.
Lalong also disclosed that the government will immediately step in to address the plight of displaced persons in the area and work towards restoring normalcy.
The governor also announced plans to step up engagement both at local and state levels, which will lead to the establishment of an engagement committee to douse the tension generated by the unfortunate incident.
The council also appealed to citizens to increase vigilance and avoid any action that could lead to an escalation of the situation. He assured that the government would not fold its arms to see its citizens maimed and killed by criminals for no reason.