While Bokkos, Riyom and Mangu counties in the Middlebelt’s Plateau State are still dressed in sorrow over the devasting attacks witnessed in more than 15 villages between December 23 and 25, terrorists have mapped out plans to go on another killing and destruction spree in Mangu on Friday (today).
At a televised interview on Thursday, Stanley Kavwam, the deputy national publicity secretary of Nigeria’s Middle-Belt Forum, said the terrorists dropped an anonymous letter, notifying Pushit villagers of the forthcoming attack. It is typical of Fulani terrorists to warn villagers of impending violence.
Though the villagers reached out to the security agencies for protection and intervention after receiving such threat letters, they get no response from the security agencies, leaving residents at the mercy of the ruthless killers. Barrister Solomon Mwantiri, the Berom Tribe leader in Jos, however, acknowledged that the military is “on patrol” in Bokkos, but that number of invaders has overwhelmed the number of security forces available to do diligent defense. Rev. Mark Lipdo, founder of Stefanos Foundation in Jos, reported Friday that the military averted deaths in Bokkos by intervening to blunt Fulani terror attacks, on the sixth day after they began.
Kavwam said security agencies knew that the terrorists were planning a Christmas Eve attack targeted at the Christian population in the State but failed to avert it. “They received about 37 distress calls, that is Operation Safe Haven or the Joint Task Force. About 37 distress calls! Yet nothing was done,” he said.
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
