Loud protests rock Nigerian city over ongoing attacks since Christmas
By Douglas Burton and Masara Kim
(JOS) Amidst rising smoke, swaying leaves, and hurled rocks, the streets of the town of Bokkos Nigeria reverberated with the shouts of Nigerian mothers demanding that soldiers and police who failed them should get out of town.
“We don’t need you anymore!” shouted wailing women on Jan. 5 as they surged through the town of 71,000 in the most intense protests ever seen there. Their impassioned demand was clear: the immediate withdrawal of soldiers and police from their streets, and the release of 20 local civilian guards arrested Jan. 4. Less than 10 days earlier the mothers and wives stood at funeral interments of close to 200 Bokkos County victims, including their fathers, husbands, sons and daughters. The military by all accounts did not intervene, or came too late, to stop the carnage caused by terrorist mercenaries who attacked at least 30 settlements in Bokkos from Dec. 23 and for five following days. Land-grabbing attacks are ongoing on Jan. 6, TruthNigeria has learned.
Bokkos is a city surrounded by more than 50 villages, approximately 40 miles south of Jos, the capital of Plateau State in central Nigeria. At least 30 villages were burned to the ground. Close to 200 residents were killed and more than 500 injured in the attacks according to local officials, leading to 10,000 displacements. Most of the displaced persons are sheltering under tents in the Bokkos sports stadium.
Fatalities caused by the attacks have exceeded 200, according to the Coalition of Plateau State Indigenous Ethnic Nationalities posted Jan. 3.
Some villages were defended by civilian guards armed with homemade pipe guns, but during the attacks, these men were overwhelmed by the far more numerous mercenaries armed with AK 47 assault rifles. After the attacks, many of the terrorists were returning to sacked villages to rip off doors and roofing sheets to prevent the return of the occupants, according to Rev. Mark Lipdo, founder of Stefanos Foundation in Jos. More than 20 civilian guards serving as lookouts over the remaining villages after January 5 were arrested and locked up by soldiers and policemen according to women and youth leaders speaking to TruthNigeria.
“They came and met them watching our villages and arrested them,” said a women leader, Mrs. Martina Saleh who led the protest.
“These youths were only carrying sticks and hunting rifles. They disarmed them and arrested them,” Saleh said to TruthNigeria. “But the Fulani who attack us with AK47 guns have not been arrested,” said Mrs. Saleh speaking to TruthNigeria during the protests. All witnesses noted the attackers belong to the Fulani ethnicity, which has been linked to the land-grabbing attacks for decades.
The Fulani, a dominant tribe in West and Central Africa boasting at least 20 million members, is renowned for its nomadic cattle herding. In recent years, the majority Muslim ethnic group has gained widespread recognition as the most politically influential tribe in Nigeria. Militants identifying as Fulani members have been implicated in widespread attacks, resulting in an estimated 50,000 Christian deaths in the country since 2009, as reported by Intersociety—an international monitoring group tracking genocide in Nigeria.
In 2023, Fulani militants were responsible for at least 3,500 Christian deaths, according to Intersociety. The first half of the year witnessed more than 500 victims of Fulani attacks in Plateau State alone. These numbers may have significantly increased since then. In April 2023, Intersociety documented more than 350 Christian murders in Plateau State. By then end of June, more than 600 additional Christian deaths were recorded in the state according to Governor Caleb Mutfwang.
In the most recent incidents, Fulani militants killed more than 295 Christians in armed attacks spanning several days across three adjacent counties since Christmas Eve, as detailed by a local monitoring group, Plateau Civil Societies Forum on Dec. 29. Bokkos recorded the highest toll of over 160 deaths according to Country Chairman Monday Kassah.
The figures have since then been revised to 200.
Rev. Dr. Gideon Paramalam, the founder of Funmi and Paramalam Peace Foundation told reporters during a tour of the attacked villages on January 5 that his foundation has documented close to 200 deaths from the Christmas Eve attacks in Bokkos alone. If the figures are accurate, the death toll in the state for 2023 may exceed 1,245 people.
TruthNigeria’s camera seized by soldiers
As of January 5, no arrests were confirmed except of local youths. According to women and youth leaders, they were arrested from different villages where they were watching over deserted villages with slingshots and single-shot pipe guns amid persisting threats.
In an unexpected reaction, violent protests erupted on January 5 in Bokkos town, following the reported arrest of local men by soldiers and policemen in the aftermath of the Christmas Eve attacks that claimed the lives of at least 200 residents.
Thousands of grieving women flooded the army and police headquarters in the heart of Bokkos county from as early as 8 am local time, wailing and singing gospel songs in the largest protest since 2016. They burned tires, and waved tree branches for eight hours, passionately demanding the release of 20 young men who were reportedly taken into custody while guarding their abandoned villages.
Ignored by elected officials who did not speak to the crowd, the angry protestors set fire to at least two vehicles and a building belonging to a local traditional leader. Soldiers reacted violently to the violence, beating several women and forcefully dispersing them. A TruthNigeria reporter’s camera was seized while filming the chaos but released after community leaders intervened five hours later.
On several occasions, the unrelenting women regrouped within minutes of their brutal dispersal compelling a dialogue by the soldiers to neutralize tensions.
“All we want is our children back,” said Mrs. Saleh.
‘Protecting killers’
The protesters accused soldiers of protecting their killers during the recent attacks in the area.
“They said they were here to protect the minorities,” said Ms. Utoran Ezekiel who co-led the protests.
“The Fulani are the minorities, but they are the ones killing us,” she said, narrating she was beat up by soldiers while resisting the arrest of her family members the previous day.
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Douglas Burton is an award-winning reporter on terrorism in Nigeria and managing editor of TruthNigeria.com. Masara Kim is an award-winning conflict reporter in Jos and senior editor of TruthNigeria.com.
