The Plateau State Government says the military’s late response to distress calls led to Tuesday’s massacre of over 20 villagers in Bindi in the Tahoss District of Riyom Local Government Area.

In an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, The Morning Brief, the State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Joyce Ramnap, expressed the government’s disappointment over the military’s failure to rise to the occasion when it matters most.

Ramnape said the attack, allegedly carried out by armed herders, left a trail of devastation as homes were razed, farmlands destroyed, and entire families wiped out.

While local resistance reportedly held off one group of attackers, another group infiltrated the area near a church where residents had taken refuge, resulting in the highest number of casualties.

According to him, the fact that the attack occurred just 200 meters from a military checkpoint sparked public outrage and renewed calls for accountability in security operations across the State.

“This is not a hidden community that we would say is inaccessible. The checkpoint is barely 200 meters from where the incident happened. It is baffling that such an atrocity could be carried out without a single arrest or any confrontation, ” Ramnap said.

“If you are that close and you engage them closely like that, you should be able to identify the route they used to escape and implement measures to intercept them. But so far, no arrests have been made.”

The Commissioner confirmed that Governor Caleb Mutfwang had called for immediate investigations and demanded at least some arrests be made to send a strong message that such impunity would not be tolerated.

“We are not here to generalise or accuse the entire Nigerian Army. We recognise that there are gallant officers, even within Plateau State, doing their best. But clearly, there are some bad eggs whose actions, or inaction, are costing innocent lives,” she noted.