Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State, has described the Christmas Eve attacks on communities in the State as genocide.
In his New Year broadcast to the people of the State, Mutfwang said the attacks that led to the mass massacre were not caused by farmer-herder clashes.
He disclosed this as community leaders in the state on Monday appealed to the Federal Government to deploy more troops and military hardware to enhance security in the State’s troubled Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Mutfwang said: “I welcome you to 2024, our year of hope in the midst of conflict, our year of deliverance, restoration and progress. While it is true that we ended the year 2023 on a sad note because of the many precious lives we lost including but not limited to over 400 between April and June, 2023 as well as the over 160 in the recent Christmas genocide.
“These unprovoked and simultaneous attacks in different villages were clearly premeditated and coordinated. These series of attacks on our people are a clear case of criminality, insurgency and terrorism and must be seen and handled in that manner if we must succeed in halting this wanton destruction of lives and property.
“For the avoidance of doubt, it is a misrepresentation of facts to describe these needless and unprovoked attacks on our people as a Farmer-Herder clash as has always been the traditional narrative. Let us call a spade a spade, this is simple genocide.”
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Over 160 persons were left dead and properties worth millions of naira were destroyed during the December 24 attack on 17 communities in the Barkin Ladi, Mangu, and Bokkos LGAs by suspected terrorists.
The violence also displaced over 10,000 persons who are currently taking refuge in different locations in the state.
The Secretary-General of Plateau Initiative for Development and Advancement of the Natives, Nanle Gujor, in an interview with Punch on Monday, said the call for the deployment of more troops was imperative not only to forestall a reoccurrence of the ugly incident but to enable the displaced persons to return to their ancestral homes.
Gujor said, “At the moment, we are in a very difficult situation. We are not satisfied at all with the situation of things. The security deployed to the communities so far is grossly inadequate.
“We have been saying that the government knows the strength of these attacks but they just send a very inadequate number of security agents which will not be able to contain the situation. It’s very sad because as far as we are concerned, we have not seen anything to believe that the government is serious about addressing the security challenge in the state, especially those of us that deal directly with the communities because we coordinate all the community activities in the state.
“Unless they are playing a game with what they claim to be doing; if not, they should know that security as we have it now is not enough. More (personnel) should be deployed.”
Similarly, the Chairman of the Community Peace Observers in Bokkos LGA, Kefas Mallai, urged the government to deploy more security operatives in the LGAs, saying many residents heard the promises by the security chiefs but were yet to see their fulfillment.
