President Muhammadu Buhari has instructed Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State to bring the 83-year-old Imam of Nghar village, Gashish District in t
President Muhammadu Buhari has instructed Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State to bring the 83-year-old Imam of Nghar village, Gashish District in the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Alhaji Abdullahi Abubakar, to Abuja for a handshake and national honour. Lalong said the President took the decision following reports that the Imam saved about 300 persons on June 24 when suspected Fulani herdsmen invaded about 15 communities in the Barkin Ladi LGA, killing over 200 persons.
The people, mainly Christians, were said to be fleeing from a neighbouring village in the Barkin Ladi LGA when the Imam hid them in his house and a mosque. However, the assailants caught up with the Imam, forcefully demanding that he release those who were Christians in the mosque. But the cleric deceived the bandits that all those in the mosque were Muslims and upon hearing this, the attackers left him and continued with their killing elsewhere.
The governor expressed happiness that the Imam’s gesture happened during his tenure as governor of Plateau State. He decried the killing of innocent people as unacceptable whether in Plateau, Zamfara, Benue, Borno, Delta or Taraba states.
He also called on the law enforcement agents to arrest and prosecute criminal actors that do evil, adding that it was absolutely essential that those arrested be made to properly face charges in court, as bringing a criminal action to justice remained the first step to stop the violence.
