•Plateau State CP removed, redeployed to Force Headquarters •Shehu Sani wants victims of ‘mindless killings’ buried close to Aso Rock •Security agen
•Plateau State CP removed, redeployed to Force Headquarters
•Shehu Sani wants victims of ‘mindless killings’ buried close to Aso Rock
•Security agents and citizens clash over burial of dead relatives
The death toll in last weekend’s attacks on some villages in three local government areas of Plateau State by herdsmen has hit 135, as President Muhammadu Buhari visited the troubled state yesterday. Recall that no fewer than 120 persons, comprising 34 in Nekan, 39 in Kufang and 47 in Ruku villages, were killed in the coordinated attacks, even though the Police confirmed 86 casualties. However, the attacks which continued on Monday, despite the dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed on the three local government areas by the Plateau State Government, claimed 15 persons more as at yesterday in Dorowa Babuje village in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area.
The new toll came as the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who was on an on-the-spot visit to Plateau State on Monday, warned against religious war in the country, even as the the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, yesterday removed the state Police Commissioner, Undie Adie, who was redeployed to Force Headquarters in Abuja. On the fresh attacks on Dorowa Babuje village in Bakin Ladi Local Government Area, Monday, residents said the 15 victims were killed as their houses were also razed by the attackers.
A resident, Friday Dusu, said: “We are in hiding now because it seems the security forces are targeting us. Assemblies of God Church, First Baptist Church, Tsauke Baptist Church, Living Faith Church and COCIN LCC Ratatis, have all been razed down in Dorowa Babuje. Residents in the affected communities in Barkin Ladi also complained that men of Operation Safe Haven forced people in the attacked communities to secretly bury their dead. But spokesman of Operation Safe Haven, Major Adam Umar, denied the villagers’ claims, saying “nobody forced anybody to bury the dead. The dead had to be buried and that was exactly what they did.
Meanwhile, addressing stakeholders from communities affected by the attacks at Government House, Jos, on Monday night, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo advised against stoking religious war, noting that no nation had ever survived one. Osinbajo, who expressed displeasure at the level of carnage, said the travesty must not be allowed to fester. He said: “We must condemn killings of any kind. It doesn’t matter whether these killings are by herdsmen, villagers, or whether it is villagers who in one way or the other have killed others, including herdsmen. I think it is important that we condemn these killings, in particular these killings that have taken place, where so many people have lost their lives in the last few days.”
In the same vein, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, described Buhari’s visit as an after-thought. The opposition party in a press conference, lambasted Governor Lalong for frittering away security votes and not doing enough intelligence gathering to stem the attack, even when there were plans to attack communities in Plateau State immediately after Sallah. Addressing the press, the state chairman, Damishi Sango, insisted that Lalong’s administration had failed in its constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property and was even pressured to cancel his planned Russia trip just to go and watch soccer where an advance party was already on ground.
He also accused the federal and state governments of trivializing the ongoing act of terrorism, reducing it to the activities of politicians, even when some people have been considered a special race to be allowed to carry modern and sophisticated weapons to unleash mayhem on innocent locals with impunity.
Meanwhile, the Plateau State Police Commissioner, Undie Adie, got removed from office and has been replaced by Bala Ciroma who resumed immediately just as Senator Shehu Sani reacting to the ongoing killings said victims should be buried in the Three Arms Zone in Abuja where the three arms of government, Aso Rock (the presidential seat of power), national assembly and courts, are situated. Commenting via his Twitter handle yesterday, the senator said burying the victims close to the seat of power would make leaders feel the pain of their families, having failed to protect them.
