Plateau State governor, Caleb Muftwang, has lamented the continuous attacks in several parts in the state, saying that so far, terrorists and bandits have taken over and renamed 64 communities.
The governor who raised the alarm during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday night, described the attacks as pure genocide and a deliberate effort by the attackers to grab ancestral lands and impoverish the communities.
Mutfwang said though the attacks that have ravaged the state is not new as it has been experiencing similar incidents for over 10 years but have not gathered national attention, the upsurge in recent invasion of communities and killing of natives only pointed out that the bandits were bent on destabilizing the state.
The governor also stressed that the attackers were sponsored by foreign influence as they were not speaking any known Nigerian language while attacking the communities.
“If these attacks have been going on for close to 10 years, it tells you that there is a deliberate, conscious attempt to clean out populations and to reopen.
“As I am talking to you, there are not less than 64 communities that have been taken over by bandits on the Plateau between Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Riyom Local Governments.
“They have been taken over, renamed and are living there conveniently on lands they pushed people away to occupy.
“These communities that have been recently attacked were part of the communities that were attacked in 2023 but they survived it and rebuilt themselves.
“The Ruwi community that was first attacked lost about 17 people in 2023 but they bounced back to show you the resilience of the people.”
Mutfwang also reiterated his earlier stance that the attackers are sponsored by forces whose aim is to destabilize the state.
“I can tell you in all honesty that I cannot find any explanation other than genocide sponsored by terrorists. The question is, who are the persons behind the organisers of this terrorism? This is what the security agencies must help us to unravel.
“We must come to the point where we know the sponsors because it is not just the work of ordinary people. This is being sponsored from somewhere, and I am sure that in the coming days, the security agencies will work together – not at cross purposes but in unison – to be able to bring out the requisite intelligence that will help us to put this matter behind us,” the governor stated.
© Ripples Nigeria