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No fewer than 13 persons were confirmed killed when armed
Fulani invaded six Berom villages in Riyom Local Government of Plateau State.
Riyom is one of the four local governments under the state
of emergency in Plateau and has been under frequent attacks by armed Fulani
within the past two weeks.
Those killed between Monday night and yesterday morning,
were from Tahoss, Bangai, Sopp, Angwa Werem, Danjol and Gwom.
Residents of the villages have fled their homes to take
refuge at police stations and primary schools in Riyom, headquarters of the
council area.
A resident of Gwarim village, Dauda Gyang, who lost his
younger brother in the night raid, said: “Fulanis came in large number. Their
mode of attack is that they will start shooting from distance to scare the
villagers and as soon as the villager run out of fear, they will come and set
our houses ablaze. From my village alone they burnt more than ten houses last
night”
Gyang said, “I swear to God, these Fulanis who are attacking
us are doing this in collaboration with men of the Special Task Force (STF). In
the day time, the soldiers will come and raid our village and seize dane guns
from villagers and at night the armed Fulanis will come in for attack; this is
what has been happening for about two weeks now.
“Last weekend, a mobile police shot one youth three times
and the guy died. The mobile officer called it accidental discharge. How can
you shoot three times and call it accidental discharge?“
When The Nation visited one of the primary schools in
Tahoss, no fewer than 200 displaced persons mostly women and children were
there.
A former member of the Plateau State House of Assembly from
the area, Emmanuel Jugul, said: “Governments at the federal and state level are
not doing enough to protect its citizens. It is bloodletting everyday in Riyom
and we have government shoulder with the responsibility of protecting lives and
properties.
“Apart from government, the security agencies in charge of
the area are not sincere. It is either they are not doing their job, or they
are conspiring with the attackers, because they securities did nothing to stop
the killings and the council is under state of emergency.”
STF Spokesman Capt. Mdhayelyah Markus, who confirmed the
incident, said he was not aware anyone was killed. He said houses were burnt.
Markus said: “As a result of the incident, the STF commander
has mobilised troops from other places as reinforcement to Sector 9 so as to be
able to handle the situation. The commander himself has visited the area and
addressed the refugees. He asked them to return to their houses with promise of
adequate security. So, we are in control in the area.”
However, the lawmaker representing Riyom Constituency in the
House of Assembly, Daniel Dem, told The Nation on phone: “The crisis is
affecting my constituency directly. The truth is that five people were killed
in the night raid, several others who sustained injuries from gunshots are
receiving treatment in various hospitals. There are thousands of displaced
persons whose houses were set ablaze.
“I cried to the security agencies on ground and they were
telling me there is nothing they can do to stop the attackers because they are
short of man power while the attackers are coming in hundreds.”
Dem appealed to the Federal Government to send in more
troops to salvage the situation. He said: “This is beyond the state government
because Riyom is currently under the state of emergency; the Federal Government
should show more commitment in saving lives”
Sunday Madaki, one of the displaced persons, said the state
lawmaker only counted the corpses in one village. He said: “From the list of
casualties I have from all the six villages, there are 13 people killed already
and over 20 others who were injured are in the Vom Christian Hospital and over
thirty residential houses have been burnt. All these displaced persons have no
home to return to.”
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