Community Leader Seeks Tinubu’s Urgent Intervention In Incessant Plateau Killings

Chief Yohana Margif, a community leader and Waziri Mushere of Plateau State’s Bokkos Local Government Area, has expressed his dismay at the ongoing killing of innocent citizens.

Margif stated this in an interview with journalists on Thursday in Abuja.

He urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene immediately to stop what he described as genocide against the people, which he claimed was being carried out by suspected herdsmen.

Margif also urged Malam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, and other security officials in the country to rein in the alleged perpetrators.

He stated: “I would like to draw the attention of Nigeria’s top leadership to the deteriorating dire security situation in Plateau, particularly in the Mushere Chiefdom of Bokkos LGA.

“I urge President Tinubu to take immediate and decisive action to put an end to these endless and senseless killings, protect lives and property, and secure the future of the Mushere people and other victims of clear genocide against the people.

“Herdsmen are killing our innocent people, burning their homes, looting their food, property, and livestock, and seizing their ancestral lands,” he stated.

According to the Abuja-based real estate mogul, the attacks and subsequent killings have increased since the beginning of this year’s farming season.

Margif went on to say that the people had been displaced from their villages and ancestral homes, forcing them to become internally displaced within the country.

He emphasised that the situation necessitated immediate action by all stakeholders in order to avoid further escalation and inflict irreversible harm by eradicating the entire community from the earth’s surface.

He lamented, “Since President Tinubu’s administration began, Plateau State has seen an unprecedented escalation of violence and loss of life.”

“This is the current, sad reality. Our people are constantly threatened by the enemy’s bullets and can not sleep with two eyes closed as a result of external forces unleashing violence against them.

“Something urgent must be done to stem the tide of violence and end this war against the people, which is harming this administration’s reputation,” Margif stated.

Suspected herdsmen militia have killed 35 people in the Mushere Chiefdom communities of Hokk, Pangkap, Fokoldep, Kopmur, Margif, Horop, Mbor, Mushere, and Kwahas in recent days.

Kefas Mallai, Chairman of Bokkos Community Peace Observers, confirmed the killings to reporters, saying the victims included a 70-year-old Pastor of COCIN LCC Kwakas-Mushere, Mimang Lekyil, who was attacked and killed inside the church.

He also stated that the pastor’s wife was shot in the leg and was being treated at Jos University Teaching Hospital.

“Bokkos has never been this insecure, with people being butchered as we are currently witnessing,” Lilian Madaki of the Mushere community told reporters.

Emmanuel Adesina, the state’s police commissioner, confirmed the incident in a statement, saying security forces, including police and military personnel, had been deployed in the affected communities.