But Self-defense Teams, Alerted by TruthNigeria, Repel Many
By Masara Kim
On February 2nd, hundreds of civilian guards fanned out across the rocky, barren landscape on the outskirts of Mangu town, bracing for a potential terrorist invasion. The past six days had seen more than 11 residents killed in the area approximately 74 miles southeast of Jos, the capital of Plateau State.
Among the victims were four civilian-guard volunteers. They heroically died while facing off against a force of 150 terrorists armed with assault- and sniper rifles according to community leaders who allege soldiers stationed mere feet away failed to swiftly respond.
The casualty figures could have been higher. Thanks to TruthNigeria’s early terror alerts which enabled the volunteers to prepare for self-defense.
“As a community, we typically receive [TruthNigeria’s] alerts about planned attacks like the latest ones,” Dashal Bitrus, the youth leader of Bungha district told TruthNigeria.
“On getting those alerts, we make our youths to be vigilant day and night,” said Bitrus. “That was what even helped us to be able to combat the [terrorists] that invaded our community this past week,” Bitrus said.
Amid fears of a possible escalation, hundreds of vulnerable residents have fled to safer areas, according to town leaders. Only a handful of women, children and the elderly remain in the district. They were chiefly those mourning the death of their loved ones killed in the latest attack just two days prior.
Across the group of four to five hamlets with 20-40 brick houses each, various groups of young men kept watch outside, while three police trucks were stationed at various locations with 5-6 officers each.
As TruthNigeria arrived on the scene at approximately 2 a.m. local time, the sound of heavy gunfire echoed through the air. Police officers stationed nearby confirmed that the shots came from a General-Purpose Machine Gun, a powerful, crew-served weapon capable of firing hundreds of rounds per minute.
Undaunted, the civilian guards pressed forward, armed with makeshift rifles, shotguns, and slingshots. Their bravery was palpable as they established a defensive perimeter, determined to protect their community from the terrorist threat.
“We will remain here to defend our right, and our community,” said Longji Lazarus, the commander of the civilian guard teams in Bugha to TruthNigeria.
“I have 400 men working with me,” said Lazarus. “We keep watch and patrol the community to ensure its safety,” Larazus stated.
“The Fulani have launched a series of attacks on our community, and we want to make sure they don’t succeed,” Larazus said.
A majority-Muslim tribe found across west and Central Africa; the Fulani has an estimated 10 million members in Nigeria alone. They are known to participate in trade, politics and cattle herding. However, militant groups identifying as members have killed six times the death toll by Boko Haram in recent years according to the HART foundation.
Last year alone, Fulani militants jointly killed around 5,000 Nigerian Christians according to Intersociety, an international nonprofit tracking genocide around the world. The figure represents a 37.9 percent drop from 8,222 Christian murders the previous year. Community members have credited the dip partly to TruthNigeria’s early warnings of impending attacks enabling residents to prepare for self-defense.
In one of the latest instances on January 31st, Fulani militants killed five people in the majority-Christian Bungha district, located in the Mangu county. The victims comprised three members of a family, and two other members of another family.
Residents tell TruthNigeria the surprise attack was launched around 11 pm local time, defying a civilian-defense effort. The attackers targeted two isolated compounds on the southeastern edge of Ligitlubang village. At the time, civilian volunteers concentrated surveillance on the western edge of the town, which faces a group of Fulani settlements just 2 miles away. Residents tell TruthNigeria the settlements are known staging grounds for terror attacks in the area.
“We were around ten or so, stationed on the outskirts of the town watching but they waded through a nearby stream and launched a surprise attack behind us,” said volunteer guard leader Lazarus.
“We responded swiftly, crawling and firing the little [pipe guns] that we had in the direction of the attack, thereby forcing them to retreat but at the time, they had killed four people. Of two others that were injured, one died at the hospital shortly later,” Larazus said, describing the force that launched the attack as numbering between 50-60.
Danan Timothy, a survivor of the breezy evening attack described how his family was slaughtered right before his eyes.
“I was in my room and my parents were in theirs with my siblings,” said Timothy.
“When the Fulani came, they went straight into my parents’ room,” Timothy recalled.
“My mum was shot in our backyard as she attempted to escape,” Timothy said. “My dad was first shot in the leg. While trying to escape, he was also killed outside,” Timothy said. “My immediate younger brother was sleeping and was shot multiple times in the chest and later died at the hospital. Our last born was shot in the arm, but she survived. When they thought they had killed everyone in my compound, they moved to the next, and that was when I was able to escape,” Timothy said.
In the next compound located 10 yards away, the terrorists killed a father and a son after breaking down their door to reach the sleeping residents.
“When they came, they started hitting on the door,” said Mrs. Amina Filibus, another survivor. “When they succeeded in pulling down the door, they flashed lights in the room and shot my husband,” recalled Mrs. Filibus.
“At the time, my son had escaped but when he heard the gunshots, he raced back and was calling me to escape but was shot as well,” she said. “I heard him scream saying ‘mum I’m shot’ and he ran into his room. That was where they killed him, but I remained quiet in the room, covering myself with a basket. That was what saved me,” she said.
The attack followed just days after four civilian volunteers paid the supreme price at an armed attack that claimed an aged mother just 500 meters away in Jwakom village.
Local media quoted the newly-deployed commander of the special military task force Operation Safe Haven, Major General E. F. Oyinlola, as pledging to hunt down the killers of Mrs. Tabitha Dafer during a visit to the community hours after the attack.
“Our aim is not only to bring the culprits to book, but also to serve as a deterrent to other criminal elements who may be contemplating similar actions,” General Oyilola said. The general then withdrew his men as he exited the village.
“It happened on Monday [January 27] after they killed one woman in nearby Ligitlubang,” said Mailafiya Nanle, the youth leader of Jwakom. “When we went to bury the woman, the Fulani attacked us again,” Nanle told TruthNigeria.
“We tried to defend and thought it was over, but they went back and regrouped, launching a much bigger attack,” Nanle said, estimating the force that attacked them at more than 150.
“Yet again we did our possible best to defend but we were outgunned and outnumbered, and as we retreated, they killed four of our boys,” Nanle said.
The attacks were the latest in the Mangu area that has seen hundreds of deaths from terrorists’ attacks, leading to thousands of displacements.
More than 350 residents were killed two years ago in a two-day invasion of eight districts starting May 16, 2023. TruthNigeria witnessed fierce firefights between soldiers and a group of more than 800 terrorists in one village on the first day. The attacks displaced more than 30 communities, forcing over 18,000 residents to crowd in makeshift camps.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang has insisted the attacks in the central and northern regions of the state are genocidal and aimed at land-grab and ethnic displacements.
“Those communities are still inaccessible as we speak,” said tribal leader Jethro Jacob.
“Places such as Washna, Kombili, Changal, Tyos, Kwas, Panglam, Gudum, Dahos, Kaude and others along those axis are completely empty of our people,” said Jacob, the national secretary of the Mwagavul Youth Movement.
“The unfortunate thing is that the villages have been taken over by the Fulani,” Jacob said. “They now do mining and dry-season farming in our land in those communities, and any native who dares to go there does so at his own risk,” Jacob told TruthNigeria, maintaining the continuing land grab attacks in Mangu have killed nearly 1,000 residents.
Both civil and military authorities are not responding to queries from TruthNigeria. But the residents of the area have come to rely chiefly on TruthNigeria’s terror alerts to survive in the few surviving areas.
“Most of us can’t read but many times we have received phone calls notifying us of planned attacks by the Fulani,” said youth leader Mailafia Nanle. “We would often hear that the Fulani are amassing in staging grounds planning to attack,” said Nanle. “Sometimes we may not know exactly where they would strike, but once we receive such alerts, it enables us to prepare. We usually organize ourselves and remain alert,” Nanle said.
The Honorable Ishaya David Lalu, the member representing Mangu and Bokkos counties at the Nigerian House of Representatives has acknowledged TruthNigeria’s contributions.
“Great!” wrote Mr. Lalu in a text message responding to questions about TruthNigeria alerts’ impact.
“We shall all try our best,” wrote Lalu, pledging partnership and enhanced efforts to stop the crimes.
Prof. Chris Kwaja, the Country Director of the United States Institute of Peace in Nigeria does not want to “second-guess” the facts. However, the Professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies acknowledges the importance of community-based intelligence which forms part of Truthnigeria’s strategies.
“Local intelligence is very important,” Kwaja told TruthNigeria. “You cannot fight insurgency and organized crime using kinetic force alone,” Kwaja said in an interview.
“You need the support of communities because criminal groups rely on communities as hideouts,” Kwaja said.
“Local support is very important for them. It serves as the oxygen for their own survival. Where government is coming for them, they go underground within those communities to hibernate, and that is why government needs to win the hearts and minds of communities,” he said.
Masara Kim is senior editor for TruthNigeria.
