By Abdulsalam Mahmud
It is known as the “Home of Peace and Tourism.” Some, however, call it “Home for All.” This is because people of diverse nationalities and religions are resident in the state, which is blessed with various tourism sites and a spectacular scenery.
Strategically located at the heart of the nation, it serves as a gateway to other parts of the country for the people of the Northeast region. With one of the most favourable weather conditions in the country, the state is blessed with a lot of tourist attractions and mineral resources that have remained untapped, even as a vast variety of crops and fruits are grown on its fertile soil.
The first time I visited the state, and particularly its capital city, was in October 2022. That was also the last time I was in the beautiful city. What took me there was a week-long media fellowship on “Corruption, Gender Sensitive Oversight and the Shrinking Civic Space in Nigeria’s Defence Sector”.
Organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) in collaboration with Transparency International (TI), and with support from The Netherlands, the fellowship was coordinated by the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies (CPSS) at Modibbo Adama University, in Yola, Adamawa State.
The journey was quite memorable, and its memories still linger. A co-passenger, with whom I traveled, regaled me about the town’s clement weather and its hospitable natives. I recall she even told me that people who engage in commercial farming of some food crops like Irish potatoes in the state are making a fortune from this.
“There are several people I know who are into the business of buying foodstuff here at affordable prices. They will then transport them to other parts of the country to sell at reasonable amounts, and they are making it,” said the passenger, a young mother who was journeying with her two little children.
But Plateau, in the North-Central part of the country, is now a human slaughter slab. On the eve of the recent Christmas festivities, about 145 persons met their untimely deaths after bandits attacked 23 villages in the state.
The assailants reportedly killed 113 persons in 20 villages in Bokkos Local Government Area and 32 in three villages in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area. The attacks were also said to have left hundreds of people injured and property destroyed. Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang of the state described the attacks as barbaric, brutal and uncalled for.
The governor, who expressed deep concern over the incident, urged communities across the state to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activities to security forces for immediate action. Mutfwang assured that proactive measures would be taken to curb attacks on innocent citizens, going forward.
Prior to this latest massacre, Plateau communities that have escaped the horrors of the marauding gunmen could be counted on one’s finger tip. Gunmen attacks across the North-Central state have surged in the last six months.
Between January and June 2023, a total of 201 people were reported killed in 27 attacks in seven local government areas of the state, including Riyom, Bokkos, Jos South, Jos East, Barkin Ladi, Bassa and Mangu, according to a tally by Daily Trust.
Attacks on communities in the state have been ongoing since an ethno-religious crisis broke out in Jos, in 2001. Since then, violence has spread to communities in the state, and there have been clashes between farmers and herdsmen, with devastating consequences.
Over 7,000 lives were lost to violence in Plateau between 2001 and 2015, according to the state’s Peace Building Agency. Again, estimates by Nigeria Security Tracker revealed that in 2018 alone, a total of 2,037 conflict-related deaths were recorded in the North-Central region, including Plateau State.
An earlier dark chapter in the security crisis in Plateau happened about 12 years ago. That was when Senator Gyang Dantong and the then Majority Leader of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr Gyang Fulani, were killed while attending the mass burial of about 50 victims of an earlier attack on villages in Barkin Ladi and Riyom local governments.
The gunmen reportedly stormed the venue and opened fire on those present, causing more deaths. The then member representing Barkin-Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Mr Simon Mwadkon, was lucky, as he escaped with injuries. He was thereafter resuscitated at the Barkin-Ladi General Hospital, where he was rushed to, after he fainted.
Dantong, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senator then, represented Plateau North Senatorial District in the Seventh Senate. He was, until his death, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health. As it has become its tradition, the Federal Government, in the wake of the recent bloodbath in Plateau, condemned the ugly incident, vowing to give the victims justice.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at a meeting with members of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) in his Lagos residence during the recent Christmas holiday, issued a stern directive to the security agencies to halt the carnage. He urged them to go after the perpetrators.
On his part, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa, in a TV programme on New Year day, confirmed that the Nigerian military had arrested some persons behind the Christmas Eve massacre in Plateau. He said the military was also working with state governments to reclaim all communities presently captured by terrorists across the country.
The reassurance of the Defence Chief notwithstanding, the military, together with other security agencies, must up their game. Dealing with bandits, terrorists and other criminal elements will remain a tall order insofar as their intelligence gathering remains archaic, inefficient and without any sophistication.
On Tuesday, 2 January, I came across an article by a Nigerian citizen presumably working in the University of Iowa, United States, and by the name Kefas Lamak. The thought provoking opinion essay was titled, “When will we get back to the Plateau of the past?”
I found it instructive, to say the least. An excerpt of Lamak’s piece, which I think our security agencies should ponder upon, reads: “One of the prime concerns Plateau people at home and in the diaspora share about the Barkin Ladi and Bokkos Christmas Eve attacks relates to the response of the security agencies in these two local governments and the state.
“In this age of technological advances, globalisation and mobility, social media traction and regionalism, circulating information about any activity, place, or thing is not supposed to be hard, unlike decades back. Information is circulated within the shortest time possible with little or no secrecy.
“The exchange of information through social media is as liquid as water and can be as fast as the same. Therefore, since Nigerian security agencies belong to these modern trends, they should not claim ignorance about attacks like this.
“On the same concern, President Tinubu, I am calling upon you to act, step up, and ensure all the interventions are taken in Barkin Ladi and Bokkos, respectively. Relief materials and verbal condemnation of these attacks are never enough.
“Verbal condemnation by the government via press releases has resulted in more communities being attacked. We want you to act and bring the perpetrators of those malevolent, malicious acts of criminality and their sponsors to book.
“Mr President, sir, you must act now. Allow no one to spoil your tenure as the president of Nigeria. Two things your administration must continue to prioritize for the common person are security and a better economy. If the country is secure, our economy will undoubtedly improve”.
In support of Lamak’s plea, the Federal Government, on its part, needs no reminder about the level of havoc insecurity has already wreaked on citizens and their property. No part of the country appears to be safe anymore. Nigeria entirely, and not Plateau alone, is bleeding. But the haemorrhage will persist if no concrete actions are taken. That is just the gospel truth.
Abdulsalam Mahmud writes from Abuja and can be reached through babasalam1989@gmail.com.
