Plateau massacre: At last, STF arrests suspected Fulani herdsmen with rifles

…Saraki, Dogara meet Buhari, demand removal of Service Chiefs
…Women, youth protesters storm Govt House, damage properties
The Special Military Task Force (STF), Operation Save Haven in Plateau State, on Wednesday, paraded suspected three Fulani herdsmen arrested in connection with the latest killings in the state.

The suspects were captured at Gashish District in the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State with firearms including one AK-47, four other rifles and three locally made guns.

The suspects were paraded in Jos alongside 14 others, who were arrested over the killings in which suspected herdsmen massacred about 200 people, mainly locals and farmers on June 24.

The Daily Times reports that 11 villages in the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area and its environs were affected in the onslaught in which property worth billions of naira were also destroyed.

Parading the suspects, the STF Commander, Major General Anthony Atolagbe, told reporters that the suspects were arrested, clutching sophisticated rifles.

Atolagbe said that the suspects were Fulani herdsmen who are currently at loggerheads with the natives over grazing rights.

But the deadly activities of the suspected herdsmen have raised concerns over the future of agriculture in North Central because of the penchant of the marauders to kill farmers.

Analysts describe Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa States, the hotbeds of the killings, as the food basket of Nigeria.

The OPSH boss said the suspects were arrested in the course of the attacks.

He said, “We all know that some days back, some villages in Barkin Ladi were attacked and these three suspects were arrested in connection with that.

“As our men were repelling the attacks in those areas; we arrested these suspects with four rifles, three locally made guns and one AK-47.

“The other 14 people were arrested in connection with civil unrest recently experienced in the state.”

Atolagbe said that the suspects were still being investigated and that more arrests would be made in the due course.

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki and House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack the service and security chiefs in the wake of the spate of killings in parts of the country.

The two men made the demand when they both met the President at the Aso Villa, on Wednesday, following the latest bloodbath in Plateau State in which about 200 people were murdered by armed men who attacked villages in three local governments.

Apart from the latest demand by the Senate president and House speaker demanding the replacement of the service and security chiefs, the two chambers of the National Assembly had jointly passed a resolution asking Buhari to sack the heads of security agencies and the service chiefs because of the unending killings of innocent civilians by armed herdsmen.

At the meeting with Buhari, Dogara, according to a statement by his media aide, Turaki Hassan, particularly called for a change in the country’s internal security system so as to permanently stop the bloodbath in the nation.

The speaker assured the president that the National Assembly will continue to work towards providing all necessary legislative backing to the security agencies especially funding needed to reform and equip the armed forces to tackle the prevailing security challenges confronting the nation.

Dogara in the statement said: “Today, I and President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, met with President Muhammadu Buhari over the Plateau violence.

“I am also restating my earlier call for a total reform and overhaul of our internal security architecture which has failed to address the spate of insecurity in the land.

“We requested for the meeting in order to hear from the president the steps and measures he is taken to end the orgy of killings and violence not only on the Plateau but in other parts of the country”.

The statement said that the president briefed the two leaders of the federal legislature on what he saw first hand when he visited Plateau State on Tuesday and the measures he is putting in place to forestall a recurrence.

The statement added that “we also used the opportunity to advise the president on other measures and actions that will help bring lasting peace in our country in accordance with the resolutions passed at the joint emergency closed door session of the National Assembly held some weeks ago.”

Dogara said: “The president has taken enough steps and told us what he is doing, especially the reorganisation that he plans to put in place to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

“These are very sober moments for all us. In a situation where people, in hundreds continued to be killed, we can no longer tolerate this kind of situation as a government.

“We call on all relevant government agencies to quickly provide emergency relief services to people in the affected areas.

“I want to seize this opportunity to once again offer our condolences to families of victims of violence in Zamfara, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna Nasarawa, Borno, Yobe and other places and urge our citizens to embrace peace without which there can be no meaningful development.”

In another development, women and youths in their hundreds on Wednesday took over Plateau State Government House as they protested the killings of over 200 people in 9 local government areas of the state.

The protest was peaceful as they matched through the major streets leading to Government House.

The protest, however, turned violent when the protesters got to the gate of Government House and found no official to receive and address them, as the gate was completely closed.

After a while however, the protesting women climbed the gate and opened it for the rest to come in, while security operatives only watched from a distance.

Sighting the protesters in their hundreds trooping into the premises and making their way to the Governor’s office, staff and other officials took to their heels, while the protesters smashed windscreens of vehicles, windows and glass doors leading to the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Chief of Staff, and the Director of Press to the governor.

Our correspondent, however, reports that the Police contained the situation as it called for reinforcement to wade off the protesting youths.

Meanwhile, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared a seven-day mourning for the victims of the gruesome killings of innocent Nigerians by marauders and bandits in Plateau State and other parts of the country.

Consequently, the party directed that its flags at all its offices and formation at all levels across the country be flown at half-mast during the period in honour of the victims.

This was contained in a statement by the PDP national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan.

The party urged the people of Plateau State to exercise their rights as global citizens, work with other public-spirited Nigerians and groups and take President Buhari and his government to the International Court of Justice at The Hague for acting helpless in the face of continuous mass killings in our country.

The party firmly held that the life of every Nigerian is sacred.

The PDP said: “All Nigerians must be protected whether they are Birom, Basange, Igbira, Tiv, Idoma, Hausa, Igbo, Fulani, Gbagyi, Yoruba or from any other tribe whatsoever.

“The fundamental duty of government all over the world is the protection of lives and we can no longer afford to continue to fold our hands while compatriots are daily hacked down by marauders”.