Former Plateau State Governor, Jonah Jang, has said those who undertook the recent killings in the villages of Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas of the state were on an ethnic cleansing mission to take over the people’s land.
He said their singular agenda is to take away the people’s heritage.
Jang in a statement through his media consultant, Clinton Garuba, said, “The killings on the Plateau would seem to have gone on unabated as the non-arrest and prosecution of perpetrators have bolstered the serial killers to carry out more and more killings.
“Unfortunately, villagers in Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Riyom and Mangu LGAs have continued to bear the brunt of terrorists who seem to have sworn to dispossess them of their heritage at all costs.
“These killers are out on a cleansing agenda and plan to take over the lands of the people,” the statement said quoting the senator.
He advised that “hard and painstaking efforts must be made to put an end to them to restore Plateau to its known peaceful atmosphere which made it home to many people, even in decades past.”
According to him, “While we agree with the President that the culprits must be apprehended and made to face prosecution, we must note that these directives have been issued repeatedly. Yet, neither arrests nor prosecutions have been made in the past.
“It is therefore pertinent that at this point, there is the need to attend to the call for state police as part of measures for boosting security, ensuring early response in crises and confronting the challenges of insecurity headlong,” the former governor said.
“We call on the people to cooperate with the state government which has shown commitment to ensuring the safety of Plateau citizens.
“The killings have assumed a dimension where inhumanity seems to have overtaken humanity but whatever the intentions and purposes of the terrorists, Plateau will survive, thrive and stand tall as the home of peace and tourism, ” he added.
The killings in the state reportedly went on for over two days on Christmas even when the people were preparing for the yuletide.
There was no timely security intervention. The army blamed difficult terrain for non-intervention.
Over 150 villagers were hacked to death while hundreds were injured and a lot more displaced in the attacks that have been condemned by the United Nations and the European Union.
