Details of the massacre and wanton destruction of lives and property, which armed Fulani bandits (terrorists) visited upon communities in Kanam and Wase Local Government Areas of Plateau State on Sunday have emerged, according to a report in the Vanguard newspaper.The rampaging terrorists attacked 10 communities in total. The affected communities include Kukawa, Gyanbawu, Dungur, Kyaram, Yelwa, Dadda, Wanka, Shuwaka, Gwammadaji, and Dadin Kowa.Eyewitnesses recount that the bandits, numbering over 200, invaded the communities on over 70 motorcycles, each carrying three of them.
They were armed to the teeth with sophisticated weapons and began shooting indiscriminately at every man in sight.
In the process, they killed some who were fleeing into the bushes and others in their homes.
Eyewitness accounts also indicated that the killers specifically targeted the men—young and old—while they spared the women.
According to one account quoted by the Vanguard:“The bandits entered the communities, one after the other, shooting directly at men and boys only; and gathered the women and girls under the trees while the operation lasted.“At the end of the operation, they asked the women to return to their burnt homes.
The communities have so far buried 106 persons in mass graves. However, eyewitnesses’ accounts indicate that they are more victims of the massacre as bodies are still being recovered from the surrounding bushes.
The Chairman of Kanam Local Government Area, Dr. Dayabu Garga, confirmed the situation.
He said:
“I was present on Monday morning where we did mass burial of 106 killed and we are still picking more dead bodies in the farmlands”.
He added that 16 people who sustained gunshot wounds are being hospitalized. The eyewitnesses’ accounts reveal that the attackers selected the houses to raze down, indicating that a saboteur, who knew the community well was involved in the attack. The Deputy Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Saleh Yipmong, accused the military and other security agents of arriving late to the scenes of the attacks. He said the security agents arrived at the communities late—an hour after the killers had carried out their brutal massacre and were gone.Yipmong further lamented the humanitarian crisis that the massacre has created in the communities. According to him:
“Displaced people are uncountable, more than 5,000 people are IDPs on their soil. The issue is so much devastating”.
These details about the Plateau massacre are shocking indeed.
Although such incidents have become commonplace in northern Nigeria, the fact that humans can kill fellow humans with such reckless abandon still chill the bones of normal people.
However, the biggest concern should be the question; what is the way forward to putting an end to this kind of incident?
How do we ensure that they do not recur? How do we—the leaders, the led, the security agents, practically everyone—guard against these mindless killings in the future?
How do we get the message of the sacredness and sanctity of human lives across to these mindless killers?
We really need answers at this time.
PIONEER NEWS 