By: BUHARI B. BELLO, Jos
Three persons are said to be missing even as unconfirmed reports say that they have been killed by some suspected militia men who blocked a Federal High way in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Meanwhile, Mr Dickson Chollom, Management Committee Chairman, Barkin-Ladi Local Government of Plateau State has called for Federal Government’s urgent intervention to stop the incessant killings occasioned by multiple farmers-herders clashes.
Chollom said on Friday in an interview that “lives of innocent persons are being wasted alongside those of cows by the incessant clashes between farmers and herders in my council.’’
“We have done everything humanly possible with the assistance of the Military personnel of Operation Save Haven, keeping the peace on the Plateau, but there seems to be no solution to those clashes.
“Another serious problem to worry about is that hunger is staring us in the face following the deliberate destruction of crops on farms by herders and killing of cows by hoodlums.
“If nothing drastic is done to curtail these crises that have held my LG hostage and put us in perpetual fear and hopelessness, we shall be in serious problem come next year, ’’ he lamented.
He said that at the early hours of Thursday, a family of four was wiped away by unknown gunmen, who attacked and killed them while in their sleep.
The LG boss called on the federal and state governments to initiate something workable to find a lasting solution to the continuous communal clashes, destructions and killing of people in the area.
According to him, just on Thursday evening around 6.40 pm, three people were waylaid by hoodlums, who attacked the three occupants of the vehicles and set the vehicles ablaze.
“As we talk, the whereabout of the three persons traveling in the pick-up vehicle is not known even to the security operatives who have been combing the area to find them.
“Both sides, the herders and farmers are habouring and tolerating the criminal elements living among them; the situation is beyond my powers. It’s a national problem, which I alone cannot handle, ’’ he confessed.
Chollom disclosed, “we have held several meetings with both the herders and farmers, but all seemed as efforts in futility.’’
Also speaking on the issue, the image maker of Plateau police Command, Mr Tyopev Terna, confirmed the attack on the pick-up vehicle in which the three people travelling inside are missing.
“We are aware of the reported attack on three persons traveling in a pick-up carrying cows but which the vehicle was burnt down with their whereabout yet to be known.
“All the same, we (Police) are on top of the situation, trying to trace the missing persons and avoid any further breach of the peace of the local government and the state as a whole, ’’ he said.
Terna said that no arrests have been made yet, that investigations were ongoing to ensure that the attackers were arrested and prosecuted to serve as deterrent to others disturbing the peace of the state.
Mr Abubakar Gambo, Barkin-Ladi Secretary, Miyetti-Allah Association, also called on the federal and state governments to intervene in the crisis brewing between his people and the Berom natives.
He alleged that his fellow Fulani herders are being attacked by unknown gunmen who kill and rustle their cows in their hundreds just between April and June.
“We believe that only when something drastic is done, the desired peace in Barkin-Ladi will be difficult to come by considering the damages being suffered by both sides in recent times, ’’ Gambo warned.
