In the aftermath of the Plateau Massacre during the Christmas Eve attacks in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas of Plateau State, Parallel Facts secured an interview with an anonymous individual shedding light on the unfolding tragedy.
She revealed that the underlying motive of the Fulani terrorist attacks appears to be a ruthless quest for land occupation and ethnic cleansing, prompting a call for urgent action from the government to prevent further loss of life and displacement.
The anonymous source emphasised that nearly half of the 96 villages in Mangu, Plateau State, have already been targeted, resulting in the displacement of around 4,000 families. The situation she described as “a very pathetic situation,” reflecting the widespread impact on the local population.
When asked about the nature of the attacks, she suggested a religious motivation, pointing out that a significant number of victims are Christians. The attacks are perceived as a coordinated effort by Jihadists, although the source acknowledged the presence of a few Muslims affected by the violence.
The source words: “So like in the case of what is happening currently, what will happen if nothing is being done is give this a couple months, those men in the village will be killed, the ones that are left there like the women and the children will now remain in the IDP camps, the men that live there will be killed, because they are less than 50 that are in the community, those that are scared have already gone some have relocated, some are in the IDP camps, some are dead. The very few that are left will try to defend the land with the very last of their blood, then they will be killed.
“When they are killed eventually, give it another 6 months to 1 year, you come and find Fulani people living there. Infact Mangu has 96 villages, currently 46 have been attacked, that close to half of the villages and the attack is still going on. So when you hear that 4000 families have been displaced, it’s because almost half of the local government has been attacked and displaced, so it’s a very pathetic situation.
“I will say there is religious motivation to it, because the large population of the people that have died are Christians, from northern Kaduna to Plateau State, the attacks that have been launched are largely against Christians. So yes, I would also say there is a religious motivations to it, and it’s clearly launched by Jihadist.
“It does not mean that there are no moslems, we saw saw few moslems at IDP that have lived with the people for long and also affected when the killings happened, but there number is nothing close to what. If they are 4000 families, probably 1 or 2 among them are moslem families, largely they are Christian families. I’m saying this because it’s not just peculiar to that state, if you look at Benue state, Southern Kaduna people that are largely affected are largely christians, so I would say that there is religious motivation to it.
“Infact when we began to mention negotiations, they (Fulani) made it clear to us that they are not against negotiations, but every time they are set for negotiations to happen they will be an attacks on them (Mangu dwellers). Let’s say Saturday is a negotiations day, on Friday evening they will come and kill some of them.
“So the people we are talking about does not even want negotiations, what they want is to come and grab the land, occupy the land and have their ethnic cleansing to just wipe away certain group of people from the earth surface.
When asked the necessary strategies government could take to reduce the attack or what the community is doing to reduce the attack drastically, she responded “the first thing is that this people should be giving a name, they are to be called terrorist and this has to be called ethnic cleansing.
“Because part of the reason why there is no intervention and the International community is turning a blind eye to this, is because the government is painting the picture as though if were a Farmer-herders clash. How can one ethnic group is having a Farmer-herders clash in Southern Kaduna, having a Farmer-herders clash in all 8 local government in Plateau State, having Farmer-herders clash in Benue. Then the problem is you ( government) clearly. So first of all they have to be called terrorist, they have to be given the name.
“And I think that is were the united Nation and other international organizations have a moral duty to come in, because they pretty much have the terms for definition or for defining terrorist and I think the international community is not doing enough to label this people as terrorist, it’s clear what’s happening. I will say that this has to be called an ethnic cleansing and they (Fulanis) have to be called terrorist to start with in order to approach them as such.
“Because if they are not given a name and this is not dated as ethnic cleansing and there will always be limit to their rules of engagement of terrorist. So I think first of all as I said earlier that they should be called terrorist and this has to be called ethnic cleansing.
“Secondly, I think the government have the moral duty of evacuating individuals who are there, because if two siblings are fighting for example or if two people rather are fighting, one person just want to exist and be alive and the other person is insisting that the other person must die, there is nothing you can do to keep them together, because no matter what happens one person must always insist that for some desired reason the other person deserves to die and this is exactly what is happening,” the anonymous source concluded.
