Attacks on Oct 13 Comport with TruthNigeria Security Warnings
By Masara Kim
(Jos) A harrowing wave of violent assaults has claimed the lives of at least 20 residents in the region south of Jos, Nigeria over the past week, plunging survivors into deep panic.
Most of the targeted communities lie 30 to 45 miles to the south of Jos and were not the targets of the Black Christmas town burning campaign of 2023. TruthNigeria warned of an impending attack on 18 villages, two of which were attacked on Oct. 13 after the security alert was posted.
Tribal leaders have labeled it the bloodiest week in recent months, urging residents to brace for self-defense amid chilling rumors of further attacks. Experts speaking to TruthNigeria warn that the escalating violence threatens to spiral into an all-out ethnic war between Christian-majority tribes and the Muslim-majority Fulani bandit-terrorists.
Brave husband stands as body shield for pregnant wife
October 13 dawned with Franca Innocent Mallo still in intensive care, a week after a terrorist’s bullet ripped through her five-month pregnancy, nearly claiming her life. Franca emerged as the sole survivor of a brutal evening attack that left her family of five, including her husband, dead.
It began as an ordinary day on October 7 in Wumat, a hilltop farming village of about 300 residents located 45 miles south of Jos. As Franca and her husband prepared to settle in for the night, the door was violently breached at 8:35 p.m., and three armed men stormed in, unleashing a hail of bullets. The black-clad men spoke the Fulani dialect according to witnesses.
The Fulani, a group known across West Africa for their cattle-herding and historical involvement in regional jihad wars, have been linked to thousands of genocidal massacres in Nigeria. According to the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, the Fulani have been responsible for over 50,000 murders in the last four years.
In Plateau State alone, Amnesty International reports that the Fulani were responsible for the deaths of more than 1,300 Christians between December 23, 2023, and February 2024.
Fortunately, during the incident in Franca’s home, their three-year-old daughter was safe with her grandmother in a nearby town.
Innocent Istifanus Mallo, Franca’s husband, bravely shielded her from the onslaught, taking multiple shots in the process. In a nearby room just opposite, another group attacked Franca’s in-laws, while yet another targeted her two sisters-in-law in a separate room. Half a mile away, civilian guard leader Yakubu Yunana, alerted by the gunfire, attempted to intervene with three team members, only to be shot in the leg by assailants covering the attackers. By the time soldiers arrived from their base five miles away around 9:15 p.m., three lives had been extinguished: Franca’s husband, his father, Istifanus Mallo, and sister Lois Istifanus.
Franca was rushed to the hospital, unconscious, alongside her sister-in-law Endurance and mother-in-law Sarah, both critically injured. Tragically, neither of the two relatives survived beyond 24 hours. 26-year-old Franca on the other hand remains in a precarious fight for her life in the intensive care unit, days after undergoing a surgical procedure where her stillborn child was removed.
Fulani leaders ‘flip narrative’
Her story is just one of the many heart-wrenching tales of survival and loss that have emerged from the wave of terror attacks sweeping through the majority-Christian communities in the region.
In one of the latest instances, a resident of a market town known as Maikatako village, was shot dead in his front yard while preparing for the evening at 8:30 PM on Saturday, October 12 according to tribal lawyer Farmasum Fuddang.
“Just the previous day, Moses Gideon Makut, another native of Maikatako, was shot and brutally attacked with machetes around 5 p.m. near his residence in Mangu Halle by suspected Fulani terrorists,” wrote Fuddang in a press statement.
“This incident occurred just hours after we buried four of our [members] who were killed in a brutal attack in Kuba, located only two miles from Makut’s village,” wrote Fuddang who is the Chairman of the Bokkos Cultural Development Council (BCDC) Vanguard.
TruthNigeria learned armed men speaking the Fulani dialect opened fire on a group of nine young men making a living at an artisanal mining camp near the village of Kuba on October 10.
The evening attack at about 9 p.m. locally left four people dead and the remaining five injured according to a local youth leader Sabastine Magit.
Hours prior to the incident in Maikatako on October 12, four residents of a Christian town in Riyom county, located 30 kilometers from Maikatako, reportedly were killed by suspected Fulani terrorists just four hours before the attack in Maikatako. According to Solomon Dalyop, the tribal leader of the Berom ethnicity that predominates in the area, the afternoon attack in Tahoss was preceded by a similar assault on a young couple on October 10, which resulted in the death of a pregnant woman in the nearby village of Jol.
Dalyop reported the attack sparked violent reactions and counter reactions by both native and Fulani residents.
However, in a statement published by a local newspaper, Daily Trust, leaders of the Fulani tribe in Plateau state claimed two of their members were killed in unprovoked attacks on the same day in Riyom and Bokkos.
Babayo Yusuf, the Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN), the association of the Fulani tribe in the state, said the first victim, identified as Bashiru Iliyasu, was killed in Jol while the second — Yahuza Idris, was killed along Maikatako road in Bokkos.
Police and army officials are not responding to queries from TruthNigeria. However, Mr. Fuddang has refuted the claims, accusing the Fulani leaders of attempting to spin the narrative.
“Thorough investigations reveal that the alleged attack, which reportedly killed a victim [of the alleged Bokkos incident] named Yahuza, was actually carried out by Fulani robbers who stole his motorcycle more than 20 kilometers away in an area known as Josho,” wrote Fuddang.
“This area has long been seized and turned into a no-go zone for the native people of the Daffo district,” he wrote, calling for the investigation of the Fulani leaders.
“Our position is based on previous experiences where such unfounded claims have been followed by brutal attacks, serving to divert attention and distort the narrative, making our community—often the victims—appear as the aggressors,” he wrote.
‘The true agenda’
“Unfortunately, genocide deniers, politicians, and misinformed advocates often overlook the true agenda behind these attacks, which includes land grabbing and ethnic displacement, dismissing them as mere clashes between farmers and herders,” he added.
A lawmaker representing Bokkos county at the Plateau State legislative house, the Hon. Sylvester Wallamko, accused Fulani militia of land grabbing.
“The motivation is just the quest for land grab by the heinous and merciless people,” wrote Wallamko in a text message to TruthNigeria.
‘War situation’
The escalating situation poses a significant threat to the survival of the region’s population of approximately 170,000 people, according to the most recent national census conducted in 2006. In response, both Wallamko and Fuddang are calling for legitimate self-defense efforts to protect their communities.
“We urge our people across Bokkos to remain vigilant and brace for self-defense as the coming days appear dark, especially given the utterances of the Fulani leaders. This is because military presence cannot be everywhere,” he wrote.
Mr. Chris Kwaja, a former Chairperson-Rapporteur, UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries, has warned that the situation could spiral into an all-out war.
“The security situation in Nigeria’s North has escalated from conflict to organized crime, and potentially, a war situation,” Kwaja told TruthNigeria. “Communities are no longer responding to crime with ambivalence. Instead, they are taking self-help measures, which indicates a war situation,” said Kwaja in a telephone interview.
“Citizens are not satisfied with the Nigerian state’s response to the escalating threats,” said Kwaja. “They have lost faith in the Nigerian state and are taking their destiny into their own hands,” said Kwaja who is also a former Director at the United States Institute of Peace.
“This has led to non-state actors filling the security vacuum, and it is not healthy,” he said.
Masara Kim is a conflict reporter in Jos and a senior editor at TruthNigeria
