Plateau killings: Over 300 dead, 6000 displaced in 2 months – Group

The Gideon and Funmi Para Mallam Peace Foundation has raised an alarm over the plight of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) following the ongoing killings in Plateau State.

In a statement, Reverend Gideon Para-Mallam, President and CEO of the foundation, said while over 300 people have been killed from  April till now, at least 6,603 households have been affected by the attacks.

The foundation, which called on stakeholders to work for peace, said, “there are currently Eighteen Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty-One(18,751) Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are now housed in Fourteen Camps.

“The fourteen camps are hosted by the Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) Local Church Councils (LCCs). A Breakdown of the IDPs shows: 2,081 widows, 6,066 Orphans between the ages of 0-5 years old. Old people account for 1,057 and teenagers and adult orphans accounting for 828.

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“A total of 6,603 households are currently affected by these deadly attacks. Over 300 lives have been lost on the Plateau from April to date. Out of this number, over 200 lives have been lost to sustained violent attacks in Mangu LGA, as at Saturday, July 8th, 2023.

“The current harvest of deaths in Mangu LGA must be treated with the utmost urgency it deserves.”

The statement called for a concerted effort to tame the crisis, saying that the “Federal Government, Plateau State and indeed all States in Nigeria need to work together with unity of purpose, across political party lines to find peace or all the troubled hotspots in the entire country.

“Focusing on misleading narratives of the violence is itself not only misleading but unhelpful and glaring political correctness and hypocrisy. The narrative of reprisal attacks is not only simplistic but it hides the real issues and therefore the unjust killings have lingered on for too long not just in Mangu LGA but in other hotspots in the Middle Belt Areas in particular,” the foundation said.