Gunmen Shoot 6 Unarmed Residents in Vicinity of the Governor
By Masara Kim
At least six people were killed Monday [May 11th] in coordinated attacks south of Jos, Plateau State, as Gov. Caleb Mutfwang toured threatened villages in the region, TruthNigeria has learned. Some observers speculate the killings were intended to mock the governor’s authority.
Terrorists described by locals as speaking the Fulani dialect launched sporadic attacks 3 to 10 miles from two town hall meetings the governor held with local stakeholders. The attacks, which have been blamed for mass displacement and land seizures, killed at least six people.
Experts told TruthNigeria may be trying to terrorize the state’s entire civilian population by flaunting their sense of impunity.
Mutfwang’s tour followed weeks of violence that local leaders say have killed more than 50 people in the majority-Christian area since the beginning of April. Among recent victims were three people killed May 5th when terrorists attacked a mass funeral in Barkin Ladi County, disrupting the mass burial of seven people slain on the evening of May 4th.
The governor began his tour at the scene of the mass funeral attack in Nding (“inh-DANG”). “I want to make it abundantly clear that those who have made it a duty to disturb the peace of the land, by the grace of God they will not know peace,” Mutfwang said after receiving reports of recent attacks in Nding. “Our capacity to take on these terrorists is not in doubt,” Mutfwang said.
“One thing I want to assure you is that I can now speak very clearly that the president and commander in chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria wants every terrorist to be taken out of our territory,” he said. “We will not allow the land to be taken over [by terrorists],” he declared.
But as the governor spoke in Nding shortly after 11 a.m., gunmen opened fire on young men at an artisanal mining camp about 3 miles away, local tribal leader Solomon Dalyop told TruthNigeria. The attack near NTV village left at least one person dead.
That incident followed an ambush two hours earlier in Gassa, 2 miles from Nding, that killed one person, Dalyop said.
While police responded and evacuated the victim from NTV, another attack about one mile away killed two more people around 2 p.m., Dalyop said. Mutfwang was attending a town hall with community and religious leaders in Barkin Ladi town at the time. During the meeting, the governor reiterated that his administration would no longer tolerate religious violence.
“This madness must stop,” said the Governor. “In the coming days, we are going to be taking some very radical measures,” he warned. Yet, terrorists struck mere feet away while he was still speaking, Dalyop reported.
“Around 11 a.m., one person was shot dead around NTV,” Dalyop said. “While residents were still recovering from the shock, at about 2 p.m., at the peak of this engagement with the executive governor, we heard of another attack where two lives were lost and a breastfeeding mother is still unaccounted for despite finding her baby alive,” Dalyop told TruthNigeria.
Dalyop added that two more people died hours after the tour in a late evening attack 10 miles away in south Jos.
“This is how the Fulani terrorists welcomed His Excellency despite the heavy warnings, the executive orders and the anger he expressed,” Dalyop said. “This is now a pointer to the fact that the terrorists fear no one, and security operatives must treat the issues differently this time to guarantee the safety of citizens.”
Joseph Lengmang, a peace and security scholar at the University of Jos, said a lack of accountability is emboldening armed groups.
“When armed groups or insurgents or terrorists rise up to challenge the powers of the state, and the state is seen as incapable of responding appropriately, what do you expect?” Lengmang told TruthNigeria. “What gives the state its identity is its ability to monopolize instruments of force. But when the state loses that capability, these things are bound to happen.”
“It tells you something is fundamentally wrong,” he said. “Efforts have been made, but it seems these efforts have amounted to nothing. Clearly there is a capacity gap on the part of the government, whether at the state, local government or federal level, to provide security to a vast majority of its citizens, which constitutionally is the primary responsibility of government.” He urged that citizens be allowed the right to bear arms for self-defense.
Masara Kim is a conflict reporter in Jos Nigeria and a senior editor of TruthNigeria.
