The Bokkos Cultural Development Council (BCDC) Vanguard of Plateau state, has observed with dismay their continuous pleas and appeals for intervention from both the Nigerian military and civil authorities, attacks on their civilian communities have continued unabated.
A statement issued by the chairman and secretary of the group, Barr. Farmasum Fuddang and Amb. Duwam lamented, “Shockingly, some officers of the Special Task Force Operation Safe Haven have been identified as harassing our civilian defenders while turning a blind eye to Fulani attackers who roam freely without challenge. This behavior appears to defy superior orders and military codes, exacerbating the dire situation.”
The statement added, “As we write this report, convoys of motorcycles, each carrying three armed Fulani terrorists, continue to wreak havoc by attacking villages across the Butura and Tangur districts of Bokkos local government area. Since 18th to 19th April 2024, at least ten (10) people have lost their lives to these assailants.”
It further lamented that the onslaught commenced around 2pm on 18th April 2024 when Fulani terrorists targeted a group of miners on the outskirts of Mandung Butura, claiming the lives of at least two (2) individuals before retreating and regrouping in the nearby mountains.
The statement further explained that they (Fulani terrorists) launched a renewed assault on the neighboring village of Butura Kampani at around three (3) O’clock, saying that despite the residents’ attempts to resist using sticks, stones, slingshots, farming and other improvised implements for defense, soldiers under the command of Col. C.Y. Ofurumazi, known as the step-up commander for Bokkos, intervened by shooting at them and dispersing their defense efforts.
“Meanwhile, the Fulani terrorists, armed with automatic rifles, remained unchallenged just five hundred (500) meters away,” the statement explained.
It alleged that it is the same officer who ordered the shooting of six (6) youth protecting their village of Kopyal from a terrorist invasion on 13th April 2024, adding that on 15th April, 2024, he ordered the arrest of another youth, “Gambo Kuba”, during the Fulani terrorist invasion of Butura Kampani, which the youth were brave enough to resist without any form of aid from the security agencies and armed forces meant to protect them.
“He again on 18th April 2024, refrained from ordering the arrest or suppression of the armed Fulani terrorists wielding AK47s, K-2s, and other assault rifles,” the statement further explained.
The statement stated that military reinforcements arrived at Five (5) O’clock but headed to a nearby settlement from which the Fulani terrorists emerged, without engaging them, pointing out that despite reportedly arresting “Abdullahi Bagaraje”, a notorious suspected leader of the Fulani illegally residing there, the terrorists resumed their attacks by an invasion of Butura Kampani while soldiers were still at the Fulani settlement.
The military teams, the statement alleged that instead of stopping the invasion, turned on the residents, attacking and arresting them even as they tried to rescue the injured, dodged bullets and witnessed their homes going up in flames.
According to the statement, “By 9:30pm, when the Fulani terrorists had there fill of the attacks and withdrew, at least two (2) people were found dead, several others were injured, and millions in property damage was left in their wake. However, the military instead of taking action against the invaders, chose to detain up to fifteen (15) residents, disarming them of the little implements they had been using for self-defense, before eventually releasing them, after intervention from military authorities in Jos.
“This was not to be the end, as the terrorists struck yet again, this time three miles away in Chikam, killing three (3) people, including a student of Plateau State University Bokkos.”
The statement explained that the situation triggered protests by aggrieved students at a military checkpoint on the 19th day of April 2024, demanding justice and accountability, saying that soldiers, led by Col. Ofurumazi opened fire on them, reportedly killing three (3) and injuring several others.
“This was followed by a mass Fulani terrorist raid, including an attack on Plateau State University Bokkos, in what can only be concluded to imply a joint operation by the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and Fulani Terrorists against innocent and unarmed civillians. This led to protests by women and youth at the military headquarters in Bokkos town,” the statement said.
It said the intervention from the Chief of Army Staff and STF Commander in Plateau State, Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar, brought in a response team from 40 miles away in Jos to restore order, lamenting that the intervention came late, and the death toll from the ongoing armed-forces-assisted terrorist raids on their villages, perpetrated by individuals identified as members of the Fulani ethnicity, has surpassed forty (40) lives taken within the last week – led to a forty-eight hour (48hr) protest by the women of Bokkos demanding the eviction of the military from Bokkos.
The BCDC Vanguard said it has lost all confidence in the military and other armed forces agencies, suggesting that communities should be allowed and appropriately licensed to exercise their rights to defend themselves against armed attackers, utilizing proportionately sophisticated or overwhelming force as permitted by law.
The group asked that prioritizing the security of lives and property in Bokkos and all the other parts of Plateau State is the primary purpose of government, led by the Executive Governor, Barr. Caleb Mutfwang and the need for the government to seek alternative solutions to address the crisis, as the “Nigerian armed forces have been incompetent”.
The group also demanded an official enquiry into and an explanation regarding the use of lethal force against unarmed students protesting the killings in Chikam, while armed terrorists were allowed to freely roam and attack others on the university campus;
It demanded that illegal Fulani terrorist encampments and landgrabbers of ancestral land the armed forces and military’s inaction has allowed within Bokkos and other indigenous communities of Plateau State, must be dismantled and those invaders sent back to where they are from, to ensure the safety of the lives and property of the Plateau people and other legal residents.
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