Over 295 killed in Bokkos, Barkin Ladi attacks, says CSOs

The Chairman of the Plateau Civil Society Organisation Forum (CSOs), Reverend Chris Damcher, has said that no fewer than 295 people were killed during the recent attacks in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local councils of Plateau State.

Damcher also added that 30 communities were affected by the gunmen, while 98 people were injured in the attacks, just as 1,300 houses and 227 motorcycles were burnt, with thousands of people displaced.

He spoke yesterday while addressing journalists at the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Jos. He described the killings as barbaric and devastating.

According to him, “this is very sad, unfortunate and unacceptable by any standard. It is an act of cowardice and outright wickedness to surround and kill innocent and harmless people in their sleep without any provocation.

“The killings in Plateau started since September 7, 2001. It has since grown into a massacre and a barbaric act of violence, cowardly engineered, which counter every known attitude of a normal human being, who believes in the sanctity of human life.”

He said that as it is common with most of the attacks meted out on communities, there is most often early warning security alerts circulated on the social media.

“We are fully convinced that such information usually gets to the security agencies and relevant authorities but we are so worried and saddened that each time such planned attacks by same so – called Fulani militia are circulated, their plans are usually executed to a high percentage unabated,” the CSO chairman added.

He said what is really disturbing is that there is hardly or never a pro-active measure by the security operatives to counter the early warnings circulated nor intercept the attackers in the act. He recommended that the government at federal, state and local levels should avoid selective response to alarms and tip – offs of a possible attack.

In another development, the Chairman of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Plateau State Chapter, Alhaji Hamisu Anani, has condemned the coordinated attacks in communities like Mangu, Barkin Ladi and Bokkos as the attacks were unprovoked.

Anani said that the attacks happened at a Christmas Eve, which shattered the plans of most Christians for t the festival.He commended Governor Caleb Mutfwang and President Bola Tinubu for issuing orders to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and Commander of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) to fish out the perpetrators of the dastardly acts.

Anani at a press briefing, yesterday, said that he was absolutely sure that the attacks have sponsors. The Senate President, Godwill Godswill Akpabio and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) who were billed to pay a visit to the government and scene of the incidents are still being awaited as at the time of filing the report.