Former Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang, has raised alarm over what he perceives as a systematic agenda by terrorists to wipe out indigenous communities and permanently displace them from their ancestral lands.
Jang emphasised that the recent spate of killings in the state is indicative of a calculated effort to dispossess people of their heritage.
Highlighting the urgency of the situation, Jang called for the establishment of State police as a crucial measure to enhance security, facilitate early crisis response, and effectively confront the escalating challenges.
Jang disclosed that the people have continued to “bear the brunt of terrorists who seem to have sworn to dispossess them of their heritage at all costs. That these killers are out on a cleansing agenda and plan to take over the lands of the people they try to wipe out is no longer hidden.
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“There is the need to attend to the call for State police as part of measures for boosting security, ensuring early response in crises, and confronting the challenges headlong. The killings are getting out of hand and the State Police option is viable for nipping these massacres in the bud,” he added.
Echoing same concerns, Senator Diket Plang, representing Plateau Central in the National Assembly, pointed out the forceful occupation of attacked communities as evidence of a real threat of land grabbing in the state.
Plang stated, “Facts on the ground reveal that there is forceful occupation of attacked communities, which is a pointer that land grabbing is real in the sstate.
“We need a permanent solution to the Plateau issue. Criminality has crept in, and security should be heightened at the entry and exit points in the state.
The Plateau issue should be more nationalistic. There is the aspect of land grabbing; the facts are there.
“The humanitarian assistance should include the provision of building materials for the rebuilding of destroyed homes so that the owners could return home, and the security personnel should be stationed at strategic locations to give the people a sense of safety.
“We need to change our grazing policy and adopt technology in livestock and crop agriculture; your profession should not impede on mine,” he articulated.