By Masara Kim
Nigeria’s military on Monday [June 1] urged residents to defend themselves after simultaneous attacks on two communities near the Plateau-Bauchi State’s border killed 11 civilians and injured several others.
The latest assaults, about 15 to 20 miles southeast of Jos, the Plateau State capital, have been attributed to Fulani-speaking terrorists. The grim toll of such attacks in Plateau State this year: more than 100 Christian residents, according to town leaders and media reports.
Col. Victor Asuquo, commander of a joint military task force called Operation Enduring Peace, said community members have the right to safeguard their lives and protect their villages against land grabs.
His remarks marked a rare public call by a senior military officer for community self-protection in Plateau State, where allegations of complicity with terrorists have persisted. TruthNigeria has reported how soldiers have fired on, arrested, and disarmed civilian guards in front of their homes, including during armed village invasions. The army has said it is mediating confrontations between ethnic militias, even as critics allege that attackers have often been allowed to flee after assaults without facing arrests.
The Sunday [May 31] evening raids are the latest sign of what officials describe as a steady terrorist advance along Plateau’s border areas, raising fears of a broader effort to take over land occupied by Christian families.
“Protect yourselves,” Col. Asuquo told a group of youths as he stood beside the mass grave of eight victims in Gwom-Ajang, a remote village in the Foron district of Barkin Ladi, about 15 hours after the killings on Sunday evening. “It’s your land, it’s your community,” he said. “Nobody should come and make you run and leave your area.”
Col. Asuquo urged residents to organize neighborhood watches, saying young men in the community should form local vigilante groups to help guard against further attacks.
“Somebody cannot come from nowhere, when we have this number of agile youths, perpetrate evil acts, and then walk away freely again. Please, it is not time to sleep. Please don’t go to sleep now. Break yourselves into JTF local vigilantes and do the needful,” he said.
The attack in Gwom-Ajang began around 7:45 p.m., according to local residents. Armed terrorists speaking the Fulani dialect approached the community through surrounding hills and trees, then opened fire on a group of women and children sitting under a tree in an open compound, TruthNigeria learned.
Credit Masara Kim.
Sunday Ezekiel, the community’s youth leader who led the response team, said he had feared an attack following recent terror alerts reported by TruthNigeria for communities south of Jos. He said he had advised residents to leave the gathering site about half an hour earlier.
“I personally called two of my committee members and went to the venue of the event and told everybody to disperse. But just as I stepped into my house, about 500 meters away, I heard gunshots,” Ezekiel told TruthNigeria.
“The instinct is first to take cover and try to determine the direction of the shots. With nothing but slingshots and pipes in our hands, we were able to mobilize and respond immediately. But by that time, six people lay dead and more than 10 others were critically injured. While we tried to save the wounded, two more died, leaving us with eight dead bodies from the attack,” he said, adding that distress calls to troops stationed about four miles away went unanswered.
At about the same time as the attack in Gwom-Ajang, three people were killed in another village roughly three miles away in Mangu County, according to local leaders. Jonathan Kyesmang, youth leader of the Mwaghavul tribe, which is predominant in Mangu, said in a statement shared with TruthNigeria that armed terrorists attacked the village of Tukur early in the evening, killing three people and injuring a 12-year-old child.
“The leadership of the Mwaghavul Youth Movement has received with deep pain the tragic killing of innocent residents of Tukur village in Mangu Halle, Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State,” Kyesmang said. “The movement mourns the painful loss of Mr. Titus Brigade, 55; Mrs. Rahab Titus, 45; and Mrs. Laitu Pius, 43, whose lives were cruelly cut short by unrepentant Fulani militias,” he said.
Hon. Yakwen Nuhu Lawan, deputy chairman of Mangu, confirmed the incident to reporters after visiting the scene in Gwom-Ajang, which borders Mangu. “What happened here also happened in Mangu,” Lawan said. “They launched simultaneous attacks in two different places just to distract and split the government’s attention, and it is quite unfortunate.” His account echoed Col. Asuquo’s claim that his troops were initially uncertain about the exact location of the shootings.
David Bunah Dashong, mayor of Foron, said he alerted security personnel within minutes of the attack and gave clear directions to the scene, but was told troops could not move because they lacked a human guide to the community.
“That is why it is important to protect ourselves,” Dashong told the gathering of youths in front of Col. Asuquo. “Whether you are working on the farm or holding a meeting, a few people should always keep watch. If we don’t do that, we will continue to face these kinds of attacks every day,” he said.
Stephen Pwajok, chairman of Barkin Ladi County, echoed the call for vigilance. “Don’t joke with your security. And don’t move at night. If it happens here, it can happen anywhere. I am begging you: rise up and make sure you are able to protect the community for the future,” he said.
A former member of the House of Representatives, Ibrahim Gyendeng, said the attacks in the region are aimed at territorial takeover and lamented what he described as the Nigerian military’s inability to contain the violence.
Masara Kim is an award-winning conflict reporter in Jos, Nigeria, and a senior editor at TruthNigeria.
