Again, gunmen kill five farmers in Plateau
Gunmen have again killed five persons in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State.
It was learnt that the attacks which resulted in the death of the victims occurred in the Kogul community of the council area on Thursday night.
The latest attack was coming barely two days after some gunmen invaded Kwahas and Milet communities in the same council area and killed two people including a woman leader.
A resident of the Kogul community, Sunday Dalyop, who confirmed the latest killings to The PUNCH in Jos on Friday, also said that that the gunmen burnt several houses in the locality and injured several others.
Dalyop said, “Our people are presently in pain in Mangu because five people were killed, others injured and many houses burned by Fulani Milias in Kogul Community of Panyam District in the LGA
“The militiamen arrived in the community at about 09:00 pm on 06/07/2023, they started shooting in different directions at the end 5 people were confirmed dead and many houses burned. The people are expressing concern as to why security agencies couldn’t do anything to make arrests and bring to an end this continuing attack on innocent farmers in the Council Area.”
The spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alabo Alfred, was not readily available when contacted on the incident by our correspondent
But a former governor of the state, Fidelis Tapgun, in an interview described the series of attacks in the state as very pathetic.
He subsequently advised the federal and state governments to collaborate with the local communities and invest in information gathering so as to bring the ugly situation to an end.
Tapgun said, “The security situation in Plateau state is a very unfortunate one and my heart goes out to the families of the victims. But I don’t know how the security architecture in the state is presently organized but whatever it is, there is the need for it to be reviewed.
“Before I became governor, I grew up in the civil service and served as the Secretary of the Local Government in the state as well as the Sole Administrator up to the Cabinet Office where I served in Special Services Department and the Security Department. What I know at that time was that in the 1980s, every LGA chairman was the Chief Security Officer in his LGA. And in every LGA, there was a security committee headed by the chairman and comprises of various groups including traditional rulers, ward heads, market traders association, DPOs, DSS, and taxi drivers who meet every Monday of the week.
“These groups hunt for Information happening in their various areas and reports were received from these categories of groups such that if there was going to be any problem or security breach of any kind, you get the information immediately and be able to address the issue. And then all the reports were summarised and sent back to the LGAs from where they get to the state government through the office of the Secretary to the State Government for onward dispatch to the office of the National Security Adviser. Such security arrangement worked effectively during the 80s and I think there is the need for the current administration to revisit that model and reintroduce it for the safety of our people in Plateau state and Nigeria at large”
