BREAKING: Gunmen Abduct Plateau Lawmaker From His Home Amid Rising Insecurity

Gunmen have abducted a serving member of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Hon. Denty Laven, who represents Pankshin South Constituency.

The lawmaker was reportedly whisked away late Sunday night from his residence in the Dong community of Jos North Local Government Area, throwing the state into fresh tension over rising insecurity.

This shocking development comes against the backdrop of sustained bloodshed and displacement in Plateau State. Just weeks ago, Stanley Kavwam, Deputy Publicity Secretary of the Middle Belt Forum, raised the alarm over what he described as “a silent genocide” in the region.

According to Kavwam, no fewer than 500 residents of Mangu Local Government Area have been killed in the past two years, with over 164 communities displaced and forcefully occupied by suspected armed Fulani militias. Many of the overrun communities, he revealed, have since been renamed by the attackers.

He lamented the silence of the Nigerian media on the atrocities in the Middle Belt and condemned what he called the government’s “selective deployment” of security forces.

> “As I speak, in my local government—Mangu—we have buried over 500 people in the last two years. Yet, the military appears helpless here but quickly mobilises to the South East whenever there are pro-Biafra agitations, branding them as insurrection,” Kavwam told News Central TV in an interview monitored by SaharaReporters.

The Middle Belt Forum spokesman further alleged that the killings were part of a larger jihadist agenda, warning that indoctrination of young people in northern Nigeria was fueling the cycle of violence.

> “Until we empower our youths with the right education and values, the killings will persist. This is no longer random violence; it is systematic and deliberate,” he warned.

The abduction of Hon. Laven has now heightened fears that state officials themselves are no longer safe, even as ordinary citizens continue to live under the shadow of terror.

Security agencies are yet to issue an official statement on the incident, but residents of Jos North and Pankshin South are demanding immediate action to secure the release of the lawmaker and bring an end to the bloodletting that has plagued the state.