Tribal Association Confirms Army Shooting of Unarmed Protestors on August 7
Jos—On the morning of Friday, August 11, a light rain gave temporary respite to Batin, a complex of farming villages 20 miles south of Jos – capital of Plateau State. But despite the detoxing rain, an air of deep sadness permeates the neighborhood. A horrifying attack two nights earlier defiles the freshness of rainwater with the stench of incinerated bodies.
The victims, including babies, laid to rest only a day before, serve as a haunting reminder of the grim reality that has shaken the community to its core. 6500 miles away in the comfort and safety of the United States, Ms. Felicia Sodipe, a native of Plateau State feels the horrors in her home in El Paso.
“Really sad day for us in Batin, Heipang town, where my mother lives, Ms. Sodipe texted to TruthNigeria. “Several of our neighbors were killed,” wrote Sodipe, who leads members of the Berom ethnicity in the United States.
“In fact, our neighbor and his family were wiped out save for the little baby breastfeeding,” Sodipe wrote. “That 21 people have been confirmed dead, and several others injured is too much to bear,” she wrote.
Military Ignores Advance Warnings
TruthNigeria broke the news of the ongoing massacres at 2 am local time on 10 August as residents were still ducking for cover from the flying bullets. https://truthnigeria.com/2023/08/mass-shootings-strike-communities-20-miles-south-of-jos-nigeria/
Yet 5 hours earlier, TruthNigeria published an advance warning of an impending attack in the region, and circulated the same to military and police authorities in Jos.
All the same, terrorists armed with assault rifles swarmed over the community of 2000 residents in the Barkin Ladi county and went from house for more than 45 minutes before the military intervened, Peter Gyendeng, a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives, told TruthNigeria. The soldiers were housed half a mile away, said Gyendeng, who represents Barkin Ladi and Riyom counties at the House of Representatives.
At the time of their arrival a few minutes past 2 O’clock according to Gyendeng, 21 victims lay dead, with more than 10 of them trapped in three burning houses, Gyendeng said.
“They killed 17 people in Batin and another four in a nearby community while withdrawing from Batin,” Gyendeng stated.
“It is very disheartening that this attack happened hours after advance notices were issued,” he said. “I personally called the operation Safe Haven authorities when I got those alerts, and they assured me heaven and earth that they were on guard. Considering the proximity between the Operation Safe Haven headquarters and that village, this attack wouldn’t have happened if they were proactive enough,” he added.
Tribal Development Group Confirms Soldier Shooting of Civilians
The village residents had reason to doubt whether soldiers would be there for them. Just four days prior to the attack, soldiers opened fire on unarmed protesters in nearby Mangu, county killing three, according to witnesses. The crowd of heartbroken women and youths had gathered at the military base just before sunrise to register their displeasure over a late evening attack the previous day which killed four residents close to a forward operating base in Mangu town.
“Women in the community came out in large number protesting the action of the security but the soldiers fired live ammunition to disperse them and in the process another list innocent life was lost…” according to a press release of the Mwaghavul Development Association on Aug. 8.
The discrepancy between the tribal association death count in Mangu and that of TruthNigeria has not been explained.
The military has not issued an apology for the loss of life. Army spokesman in Jos, Captain James Oya, blocked TruthNigeria’s phone lines from reaching him after receiving queries regarding the shootings.
The Nigeria Law Group denounced the shootings in a press release Friday, August 11. https://truthnigeria.com/2023/08/tinubu-should-stop-war-against-plateau-citizens-punish-killer-soldiers-to-avoid-icc-prosecution/
“It is ironic that days after the army coup leaders in Niger were publicly celebrated by massive crowds in a stadium, Nigerian army were protested at by crowds of Nigerians at the base. As it stands, more Nigerians have been killed by the Nigerian army under our ‘democracy’ than in the military coup in Niger!” according to Emmanuel Ogebe of the Nigerian Law Group.
Batin Community Attacked by 200 Armed Killers
According to witnesses, the attack in Batin started at 1:25am local time while residents were asleep. No cattle herds were observed in the vicinity of the village. A group of 200 men armed with assault rifles launched a guerrilla assault from the eastern edge of the town, hiding in the surrounding corn farms as they made their way toward civilian residences, said one witness, Rwang Tengwong to TruthNigeria.
“They came in three groups. Some flanked the southern exit of the town, some took the northern exit and another group remained in the center as they collectively moved in with serious shooting,” Tengwong said.
“Some people who ran out of their houses in the bid to escape were shot while many who remained indoors were trapped and killed in their houses. Majority of them were burned in the houses,” said Tengwong who heard the terrorists speak the Fulani dialect.
The Fulani, a large ethnic group in West Africa has over 10million members in Nigeria according to various sources. A militant faction of the group has been accused of thousands of genocidal massacres in Nigeria.
This year, Fulani militants have killed more than 2,500 Christians in Nigeria, with more than 20 percent of the deaths in Plateau, according to the crime-tracking nonprofit, Intersociety.
But Fulani leaders have denied responsibility for the attack in Batin. “Sincerely speaking, I am very saddened by the news of this attack,” said Nuru Mohammed who leads the Fulani group in Plateau State. “These killings and counter killings are barbaric and condemnable” said Mohammed in a telephone interview with TruthNigeria.
Nuru had issued a statement in June saying more than 200 of his members had been killed in the State since 16 May, the exact day the ongoing attacks credited to Fulani militants started in the Mangu county, reportedly killing over 350 Christian residents within weeks.
Soldiers ‘Threaten’ Self-defense Guards
While the attack in Batin Village was happening, soldiers of a military task force known as Operation Safe Haven failed to intervene, Tengwong noted. Their vehicles had arrived near the town as early as 9 pm according to Tengwong, just an hour after TruthNigeria published an advance notice of an impending attack in the region. Two pickup trucks carrying six men each were stationed at an intersection leading to the town just half a mile away, Tengwong reported. But the soldiers who were armed with assault rifles and two general-purpose machine guns ignored the sound of gunshots and the screaming voices of terrified residents during the invasion, he said.
“We kept making phone calls until another team of soldiers came from Jos after an hour or so and by that time, 17 people were lying dead. And even when they came, they parked their trucks in the center of the town and ordered the few vigilantes who had made efforts to repel the attackers, helping to minimize casualty to stand down. They didn’t advance to chase down the attackers and they didn’t allow our people to help themselves,” he said.
The soldiers’ actions increased the vulnerability of the defenseless residents scrambling for safety in the face of a harrowing attack, said Solomon Dalyop, a tribal leader and attorney in Jos who personally made phone calls to military authorities to intervene before and during the attack.
“They did not go after the attackers but rather posed a threat to the locals who had staged a self-defense to safeguard their lives“, said Dalyop to TruthNigeria.
“It is appalling that soldiers were here before, during and after the attack but did nothing to protect the defenseless locals,” Dalyop said, accusing the military of complicity with terrorists.
“The soldiers’ actions enabled terrorists making a fighting retreat to stop over at a nearby town and kill an additional four people,” Dalyop noted.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang in a statement mailed to TruthNigeria by his spokesman, Gyang Bere, described the incident as ‘disheartening’ and called on the military authorities to ‘redouble’ their efforts in safeguarding communities.
“Those in authority who stand idly by while the innocent get slaughtered will be held accountable for their inaction either in this life or the next,” wrote Judd Saul, the founder of a U.S. based nonprofit offering relief to survivors of terror attacks in Nigeria – to TruthNigeria in a text message.
“We are pleading with the US government to come to our aid before my people are wiped out from the face of the earth. The so-called security measures put in place by the Nigerian Government are not working. We need the international community to please come to our aid,” Sodipe wrote from El Paso.
—Masara Kim is an award-winning conflict reporter based in Jos, Nigeria. Douglas Burton, @BURTONWARNEWS, based in greater Washington, D.C., is the managing editor of TruthNigeria.com
