Irigwe Citizens Accuse Soldiers of Ignoring Murders in the Shadow of an Army Base
By Lawrence Zongo and Bitrus Izhe
JOS, Nigeria —In the early hours of Wednesday, June 4th, women in mourning gathered in protest at the roadside of a Nigeria Army Checkpoint, carrying leaves and chanting through tears. Their march followed the killing of three Irigwe men in the Kwall District, Northwest of Plateau State Capital, the night before — the latest in a string of deadly attacks in Nigeria’s troubled Middle Belt region.
The victims — Sunday Ishaya (37), Joshua Mishi (51), and Range Kpeh (32) — were ambushed near Government Secondary School, Kwall, around 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 3rd while returning home from work. According to witnesses and local leaders, the attack happened less than 400 meters from a military drone base, yet no intervention came from the soldiers stationed nearby.
“Our people are being killed close to army checkpoints,” said Mrs. Mary Dick Phar, National Leader of the Irigwe Women, in an interview with TruthNigeria. “We don’t want the Nigerian Army. We’ve over 473 widows whose husbands were murdered by Fulani. We are tired of burying our husbands,” she said.
Her frustration was echoed by dozens of other women, many of them widows now caring for children without support. They chanted a chilling refrain throughout the protest: “Protect us, or we will protect ourselves.”
The Local Government Chairman of Bassa County, Hon. Dr. Joshua Riti, met with the protesters and expressed concern over what he described as an “erosion of trust” between the local population and security operatives.
“This is why I feel the people are losing confidence in the army. You can’t have an attack so close to a security base and get no response,” he told TruthNigeria. “It sends a very dangerous signal.”
Chairman Riti estimated that since January 2025, nearly 1,000 people have been killed in Bassa Local Government Area and neighboring communities — a grim statistic that continues to grow with each passing week.
Riti confirmed that his administration is now working to strengthen local community watchmen groups (often called “vigilantes”) and revive the government initiative dubbed “Forest Guards,” to provide some level of grassroots defense. “We’re talking about a non-kinetic approach,” Riti told TruthNigeria. “The vigilantes and forest guards will be mobilized to be more proactive,” he said.
Local community watchmen proved themselves last Friday evening, May 30, in the village of Kpachudu, a Christian farming village, bloodied by a Fulani killing squad four years earlier.
On Friday the Fulani gunmen stormed the village again, occupying the church’s open-air worship field and firing sporadically for more than 10 minutes.
But this time the community guards fired back with their shotguns, killing one and wounding others who retreated with the group.
“They came shouting in Hausa, mocking us to call on Jesus to save us,” said a local source who requested anonymity. “By God’s grace, our youth responded quickly. They ran and left behind one of their own.”
The source said this was the first time in years that the attackers were forced to flee and abandon a corpse, an unusual move, given their past efforts to retrieve dead or injured members. The body was picked up the next morning by Fulani elders, accompanied by security personnel.
More Deaths Reported
As the community grieved over the murdered victims on June 4, more bad news arrived. Three additional Irigwe natives reportedly were killed within 24 hours of the initial attack on June 3. Two were ambushed near Chuvo, and a third, initially hospitalized with machete wounds, succumbed to his injuries. Local sources said another body was discovered in a nearby farmland. This brings the total death toll in the district of Kwall to six in less than 40 hours.
Rev. Yakubu R. Ngwe, the pastor in charge of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Miango Church District, said the crisis is having a devastating impact on Christian congregations in the area. “These recent killings affect our members directly. Many are afraid to go to their farms. Widows and orphans are increasing. It’s farming season, but how can people work when they fear for their lives?”
Ngwe appealed for government intervention, the withdrawal of the military, and the construction of a Mobile Police Barracks. “The army has failed to protect us. Let them return to their barracks. Bring in the mobile police instead,” he said.
He also called on international organizations to support the church’s relief efforts, provide trauma counseling, and to urge Nigerian authorities to defend its own citizens.
A History of Violence
The Irigwe people, indigenous to central Plateau and Southern Kaduna, have been the target of repeated attacks attributed to Fulani militias. Many villages, including Kpachudu, Zikke, and Jebbu Miango, have suffered multiple raids over the past two decades.
According to the Rural Youth Integral Support Initiative (RUYISI), between 2001 and 2023, at least 236 Irigwe communities were attacked. The period from 2017 to 2021 was the most violent, with 2021 recording the highest number of attacks — 44 communities in that year alone.
Jebbu Miango tops the list with 186 attacks over 23 years, followed by Kpachudu with 140. Zikke village, also predominantly Christian, recorded the single deadliest attack on April 14, 2025, with 54 people killed in one night.
Mounting Pressure for Accountability
The Irigwe Development Association (IDA), the socio-cultural body representing the Rigwe people, has condemned the latest round of killings. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Sam Jugo, the IDA described the killings as “devastating” and called for a thorough investigation.
“We urge residents to remain peaceful. But we also demand that law-enforcement agencies do their job and ensure justice is served,” the statement read.
The IDA noted that the latest attack occurred within the vicinity of Operation Safe Haven’s military surveillance base, a detail many locals find hard to overlook.
At the Kwall road entrance to the Military Checkpoint, the chants continued into the evening as women refused to be dispersed until the County Chairman addressed them again. Many sat on the ground, holding leaves and crying and chanting, “We don’t want the Army.” One held a handwritten sign that read: “We have names, we had husbands. We are not numbers.”
As the sun set over Kwall, the atmosphere was tense, the grief still raw. Many in the community fear that without a change in security strategy, more blood will be shed.
Lawrence Zongo is a human rights defender and conflict reporter for TruthNigeria. Bitrus Izhe is a videographer conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
