The Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Muftwang, where over 50 people have been killed and thousands rendered homeless in recent weeks, says the assault on the area is sponsored and genocidal.
Attackers struck in several communities in the Bokkos Local Government Area (LGA) of the North-Central state, displacing many and leaving a trail of destruction behind.
Muftwang, miffed by the killings, have linked the attacks to some unnamed terrorist groups. According to him, the assault in Plateau State is being sponsored and targeted at wiping off communities in the state.
“I can tell you in all honesty that I cannot find any explanation other than genocide sponsored by terrorists. The question is, who are the persons behind the organisers of this terrorism? This is what the security agencies must help us to unravel,” the governor said on Tuesday’s edition of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“We must come to the point where we know the sponsors because it is not just the work of ordinary people. This is being sponsored from somewhere, and I am sure that in the coming days, the security agencies will work together – not at cross purposes but in unison – to be able to bring out the requisite intelligence that will help us to put this matter behind us.”
The attacks are the latest in a series of assaults on Plateau, which has, in the past, recorded similar incidents.
Researchers say that drivers of conflict in Plateau state are often complicated. Some have linked it to the fight for resources between farmers and herders.
But Muftwang said the attacks on the state are beyond fighting for limited resources and has likened it to attempts to terrorism.
64 Communities Taken Over
He said over 64 communities in the state have been taken over by bandits who have sacked villagers.
“As I am talking to you, there are not less than 64 communities that have been taken over by bandits on the Plateau between Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Riyom local government areas,” the governor said.
“They have been taken over, renamed, and people are living there conveniently on lands they pushed people away to occupy.”
Tensions have soared in the state since about 200 people were killed at Christmas 2023 during a bloody attack on a majority Christian village.
In May last year, around 40 people were killed and homes torched in the town of Wase.
Earlier in the week, the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu visited the scene of the most recent attacks, promising to end the killings in the state.
