Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, yesterday, convened an emergency stakeholders’ meeting at the Government House, where he decried that in the last three weeks, the state has been pushed to the front burner of national discourse for the wrong reasons.
It was a discussion behind the cameras, where he asked the stakeholders to sincerely tell him what they knew about the insecurity ravaging the state.
Similarly, Governor Hyacinth Alia has declared that armed herdsmen have laid siege to Benue State under his watch.
The Plateau helmsman noted that when he was officially declared the winner of the governorship election on March 21, 2023, terror suddenly came in a way that people had not experienced, particularly in Mangu and Riyom local councils.
He recalled that as soon as he took the saddle, he called a security meeting to tame the situation, which paid off temporarily until the Christmas Eve tragedy that claimed no less than 150 lives.
Mutfwang pointed out that the ugly situations did not begin during his tenure; explaining that when he was not yet in politics, he was told that there was a lot of issues that bordered on insecurity which eventually forced then President Olusegun Obasanjo to declare a state of emergency on the Plateau when Joshua Dariye was governor.
Then he pleaded with them: “Let us do it together. Let us think together. We must make sure we nurture the land. Ladies and gentlemen, my leaders, let us listen to each other. I will listen to your counsel and suggestions. I want to assure you that he who is standing before you is nothing but a servant.
“I will ask all the media crew to vacate the hall. It is not a media discussion. We are going to be talking frankly to ourselves. If you feel I have said or done something wrong, say it without fear.
ALIA’S declaration came just as the death toll in the last Thursday and Friday attacks in Ukum and Logo local councils of the state rose to 72.
On the two fateful days, armed herdsmen on motorbikes stormed the two councils in coordinated attacks, killing, maiming and razing homes.
The attacks came a few days after similar attacks on Ikobi, Asa 2, Otobi-Akpa, Emichi, Okpomaju and Odudaje communities in Otukpo Local Council, which claimed about 30 lives and many sustained severe injuries, while the rampaging herders also razed several properties.
Besides, communities in Kwande also come under sustained attacks by the marauders, who daily kill the locals and take over the communities unrestrained.
Governor Alia urged the Federal Government to step into the situation and end the activities of the killer herders in the state.
He urged the people to always seek information from security agencies that would help them act decisively to tackle any form of insecurity in their communities.
