A former Plateau State Governor, Jonah David Jang, has said the perpetrators of the recent killings in the villages of Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas of the state were on a cleansing agenda aiming to take away the people’s heritage.
According to the governor, the attacks were being carried out to achieve surreptitious objectives.
The former governor, while offering condolences to the victims of the incident, described the attacks as incessant and unnecessary, claiming hundreds of innocent villagers’ lives and properties.
In a statement, Comrade Clinton Garuba, media consultant to Senator Jang, 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 former governor while appreciating the efforts of the state and federal governments in responding to the attacks, said, “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.”
“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.
“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.
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