Nine people were reported dead after gunmen attacked the village of Adu in the Kwal District of the Bassa Local Government Area in Plateau State.
Nuhu Bitrus, a spokesman for the Miango Youths Development Association, confirmed the villagers’ deaths to The Punch in Jos on Monday.
“Yes, nine people were killed in an attack in Adu village yesterday (Sunday).” Bitrus said, “It happened around 9 p.m.”
He said that the attack had caused the community to cancel the celebrations that were supposed to happen for Nigeria’s 63rd anniversary. Instead, he said, the event that was supposed to happen today (Monday) had been turned into a day of sorrow and prayer for the safety of the people.
The youth leader also said, “We are not happy that we are sad today because nine of our people were killed in an attack last night in Adu village.”
“It is sad that while some people are celebrating Nigeria’s 63rd birthday, we are getting together in Kwal to bury our dead.” We were going to do a lot of fun things as a group to celebrate Nigeria’s 63rd independence day today (Monday), but we’re not going to do those things anymore. We’ve made the event a day to pray for the safety of our people.
The head of the youth group asked the whole government to stop attacks in Bassa communities.
At the time this story was written, Alabo Alfred, a spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, could not be reached to give his thoughts on what had happened.