Map of Plateau State
By CHRISTIANA LOT, Jos–
A group under the aegis of Middle Belt Patriots has condemned the killings of at least 70 persons, including pregnant women and children, in fresh attacks on communities in Plateau State.
It said over 300 homes were set ablaze in Bokkos and Bassa Local Government Areas, with more than 3,000 residents displaced.
In a statement issued by National Leader Dr. Terna Akambe Nenge, the organization condemned the violence as “genocidal massacres” and criticized the federal government for its inadequate response to the ongoing crisis, urging immediate intervention to halt the bloodshed.
The statement read, “At the moment, there are active genocidal massacres taking place on the Plateau especially in Bokkos and Bassa LGAs: 70 people including pregnant women and children were killed by Fulani militia. Six are missing and many others injured. Over 300 homes have been destroyed leaving more than 3000 people displaced.”
“It is sad and irredeemably discrediting for a government to look so powerless and impotent when the Middle Belt people are massacred,
“But when the victims stand up in self-defence, the same government becomes so powerful with arrests and incarceration of the victims. This is a testament that the lives of other citizens do not matter or have lesser value.”
The Patriots said the killings were a continuation of systemic violence that escalated under the previous administration, adding that no perpetrators have been held accountable.
“The cold blooded massacres by the Fulani militia reached worrying and genocidal proportions during the Muhammadu Buhari administration from 2015–2023. They are still continuing with no single perpetrator brought to justice.
“Hundreds of thousands of lives are lost. Uncountable number of villages destroyed. Thousands displaced as their ancestral lands are occupied by the Fulani militants as they graze their cows on the natives’ farmlands,” they stated
It further warned that while the Middle Belt remains committed to peace, it is not incapable of defending itself if pushed to the wall.
“The truth is that it is not that we lack the strength or are ignorant of what to do because if we choose, we can take the perpetrators of this genocide salvo for salvo and volley for volley.
“But as peaceful people, we are waiting for the government to do the right thing by arresting these Fulani militia and their sponsors,” the group added.
The Patriots urged the government to act beyond issuing press statements and ensure the full weight of the law is brought against those behind the killings.
“It is enough, the killings must stop or be stopped. It is pertinent that the government acts beyond press releases by protecting the lives and properties of the Middle Belt peoples. No religion or ethnic nationality is more Nigerian than us.
“The criminal militia that killed innocents in Bokkos and Bassa must be arrested and be made to face the full weight of the law as anything short of this will be unacceptable,” it concluded.
