Jos–In a harrowing escalation of violence, an ongoing battle between citizen guards known as vigilantes and Fulani terrorists erupted late Wednesday [July 26] in Mangun, largest city in Mangu County, near the border with Bokkos County in central Nigeria’s Plateau State. Truth Nigeria first reported about this fight hours earlier.
The confrontation began at approximately 9 pm local Nigeria time, shortly after Truth Nigeria published an advance warning of an impending attack in the region, according to locals speaking to TruthNigeria. The area has been gripped by the relentless violence, resulting in a staggering death toll of over 350 residents since May 16.
Truth Nigeria posted a Security Alert July 20 warning that terrorists were planning a complex attack on as many as 30 villages in Central Plateau State by Sunday July 23, but despite reported gun shots and cattle rustling, no casualties were recorded over the weekend in the area. The Security alert reported that terrorists were mustering in staging areas in Bokkos County, 40 miles southwest of Jos, as well as in the town of Mahanga in Riyom County and at undisclosed locations in neighboring Bauchi State.
Major Gen.Taoreed Lagbaja, Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff, inserted a force of 300 military personnel into Mangun on July 22, according to Radio France International. Gen Lagbaja also pledged to put an end to the incessant bloody attacks on dozens of majority Christian villages that have claimed the lives of 350 citizens since May 16. Local authorities told media that 80,000 residents were sheltering at Internally Displaced Persons Camps, as many as 18,000 IDP’s are living in the area of a primary school in Mangun.
Controversy has erupted over the demand of Gen. Lagbaja that all men in the area surrender their weapons to the military. Nigeria has strict gun control laws that do not allow civilians to own firearms unless they are licensed hunters of small game. Yet, these laws have rarely been enforced to collect the assault rifles in the hundreds of thousands that are carried by cattle herders in all 36 states, according to Kyle Abts, executive director of the International Committee on Nigeria. On the other hand, defenders of rural hamlets under attack by so-called unknown gunmen, typically use homemade shotguns and single shot rifles. If the Nigerian military were to collect masses of weapons from the citizen guards, known in local parlance as “vigilantes,” the result could be catastrophic loss of life in Plateau, according to TruthNigeria founder Judd Saul. “The implementation of the general’s decision could mean the death of tens of thousands of innocent people,” Saul said.
Masara Kim is an award-winning conflict reporter based in Jos, Nigeria and the senior editor of the newly launched site, TruthNigeria.com.
