The military has blamed the recent crisis in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State on herder militia, cattle rustling and a combination of other factors.
The Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, while addressing a news conference on the activities of the Armed Forces of Nigeria in Abuja on Thursday, said, “The situation was triggered by a number of factors including the attempted cattle rustling and the killing of a Mangu man by herder militia.”
General Buba said it was reported that a man riding on a motorcycle along the road ran into a herd of cattle crossing the road on the 22 January 2024.
“The herders reportedly killed the man on the spot. Consequently, militia mobilised and attacked residents in the early hours of 23rd of January,” he said.
The military spokesperson, however, said special forces have been deployed to hot spots in the state to contain the situation.
He said the Defence Headquarters would meet with the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the local government area, Revd Timothy Daluk, over his recent comment accusing the military of supervising the killings of Christians and the destruction of properties in the state.
More than 30 persons were killed, many injured and scores of houses burnt when assailants attacked Kwahaslalek village, a community in the Mangu Local Government Area of the state.
President of Mwaghavul Development Association, Joseph Gwankat, said the attack occurred on Tuesday night while residents assembled at a compound in the village to observe the curfew imposed on the LGA by the state government.
Two other communities of Kinat and Mairana on the borders of Mangu and Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas were also attacked same night.
In reaction to the attacks, the state governor, Caleb Mutfwang, imposed a curfew on the LGA.
Channels Television reports that Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria, has been badly hit by blood-thirsty marauders of late with over 200 killed during Christmas Eve attacks in the Bokkos and the Barkin Ladi Local Government Areas. Many houses and farmlands were also burnt in the overnight attacks and scores were injured.
The coordinated killings in communities in the two local government areas attracted local and international outrage with the governor lashing on the military for tardy response and describing the killings as a carnage.
Over 50 villages were said to be affected by the attacks with the United Nations urging the Federal Government to do a thorough probe into the incidents.
