…FG, states have shared responsibility for peace, stability – President
…CAN, others express outrage
Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has given fresh perspective to the two decades-long acts of terror which have claimed thousands of lives in the north-central state, pointing at locations and groups that security agencies need to interrogate if they are serious about resolving the problem.
This comes as gunmen stormed over 20 communities in the Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas of the state on Christmas Eve, killing over 115 people and wounding scores of others.
The gun-wielding assailants set several houses ablaze on Sunday night and also looted farm produce and destroyed property.
Mutfwang said the attacks were not caused by religious acts or a clash between farmers and herders, but were simply pure acts of terrorism and gruesome murders.
He said it appeared that certain culpable individuals and groups linked to the incidents were being shielded by some power blocs.
This is even as eminent personalities and groups have been expressing outrage at the latest incident which has also left countless individuals still unaccounted for.
Reacting to the incident, President Bola Tinubu ordered security agencies to arrest the perpetrators of the attacks.
“President Tinubu directs security agencies to immediately move in, scour every stretch of the zone, and apprehend the culprits,” presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, said in a statement.
The President also directed the “immediate mobilisation of relief resources for surviving victims of the primitive and cruel attacks as well as medical treatment for the wounded”, Ngelale said.
Meanwhile, at a meeting with members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) at his residence in Lagos on Tuesday, President Tinubu restated his condemnation of the latest killings in Plateau State.
He told the governors that the federal and state governments share the mutual responsibility of ensuring the peace and stability of the country.
He also issued a stern directive to security agencies to halt the carnage in Plateau State and intensify the pursuit of those responsible for the recent tragic events in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas.
Condoling with the victims, Tinubu emphasized the sanctity of human life and called for a paradigm shift among those with contrary beliefs, cautioning them about the inevitable consequences of their actions.
“Nigeria needs peace and stability to move forward. Nigeria belongs to all of us, and we have to take care of it,” he said.
Earlier, Chairman of the NGF and Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, expressed solidarity with the government and the people of Plateau State.
“May God be with the souls of the departed and bring peace to Plateau State. The Governor of Plateau State, we are with you; stay strong,” he said.
Governor Mutfwang, in an interview with Channels Television earlier, criticised what he described as the “lack of political will” by the Federal Government to flush out marauding terrorists on the Plateau, saying that insurgents have been occupying schools in the Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area of the state for five years without being dislodged.
Mutfwang said the crisis on the Plateau has continued to escalate because no arrest has been made so far by security agents.
“We must stop this carnage,” the governor said, adding that security agents “cannot continue with this reactionary strategy but be proactive”.
“As I am talking to you today, in Barkin-Ladi Local Government, schools have been occupied by these terrorists for some years now. Not less than 64 communities have been displaced and the lands have been taken over by these marauding terrorists,” he said.
The governor further said he would approach President Tinubu to give clear instructions to security agents to protect the people on the Plateau against their land-grabbing attackers.
He said the persistent attacks on the people of the Plateau were not unconnected with land matters, adding that non-aboriginal dwellers can get lands on the Plateau but not through violence.
“There are ways of acquiring lands, not through violence and we must be able to resort to constitutionalism in dealing with these issues,” the governor said.
“People who want land on the Plateau are free to approach the communities, negotiate and settle in those communities. I don’t think people will refuse but where they resort to violence to take over those lands, you will be sure that this is a time bomb because it will reach a time when people react, and we are going to have a large-scale conflict. I pray we don’t get to that point,” he said.
Mutfwang further said that under the last administration, the feeling of the people in Plateau State, particularly the victims of these terrorist attacks, was that “it looks as if the terrorists were given official government backing to be able to terrorise them because little or nothing was done to repel these attacks”.
“I can tell you,that these schools that are being occupied didn’t start now; some of those schools have been occupied for the last three to five years. Children in those schools have had to relocate, and primary healthcare centres have been abandoned,” he said.
A former Senate President and two-term governor of Kwara State, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, said he was outraged and heartbroken by the news of “over 100 innocent lives brutally cut short, along with numerous others injured in Christmas Eve attacks perpetrated by marauding gunmen across multiple communities in Plateau State”.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday morning via his handle @bukolasaraki, the former Senate President said, “The audacity of the assailants and the sheer scale of the carnage are reminders of the deep-seated challenges that continue to plague our nation and the urgent need for decisive action to address the root causes of these conflicts.”
He urged the Federal Government to launch an immediate and thorough investigation into the heinous act, saying no stone must be left unturned, and no perpetrator must be allowed to go free.
“I extend my deepest condolences to the affected communities and families of those who have lost loved ones in this senseless tragedy. I pray for speedy recovery and healing, both physically and emotionally, for the injured,” Saraki said.
Also, the Northern Governors’ Forum, led by Gombe State governor, Inuwa Yahaya, has condemned the brazen attacks, describing them as “reprehensible and disheartening”.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Tuesday likewise condemned the Christmas Eve attacks.
In a statement signed by its President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) maintained that the attack on the communities was a threat to the nation’s harmony and shared values.
“We condemn these acts of violence in the strongest possible terms. The burning down of houses, and worship centres, and the destruction of properties worth millions of naira is not only a criminal act but also a direct assault on our shared values of peace, unity, and mutual respect,” it said.
