Bokkos Massacre: Nobody can take our land for cows — Reps member narrates killings, puts death toll at 51

‘Our people will defend themselves

Plateau State has been plagued by violent attacks, with the latest massacre claiming about 51 lives in the Mangu and Bokkos communities.

In this interview, Hon. Ishaya David Lalu, a member representing Mangu/ Bokkos Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, blames the attacks on suspected Fulani militia, stressing that nobody can take their ancestral land for cattle grazing.

Lalu adds that he’s working with agencies like NEMA and the Refugee Commission to provide relief to displaced victims. Excerpts:

Can you tell us what is going on in your constituency?

I describe what is happening in my constituency as an attack. It is not a crisis. Yes, the people of Mangu and Bokkos are hospitable. They like accommodating people and living in peace because they know that their major cash crop is the potato and swimming is their major activity.

So they already knew that accommodating people would make them have more interactive businesses in the area. Our people have been living in peace.

However, people are coming from nowhere and attacking and killing people innocently. Innocently, I repeat, and this is very, very bad for us. We have been experiencing this over time. We don’t know the aim of these disgruntled elements but we are doing our best to ensure that we stop this once and for all.

What are you doing to stop it? Also, what efforts are the federal and state governments making to address the problem?

The state government is doing its best. The local government chairman is also doing his best as the chief security officer of the council. On my part as a representative of the people, the National Assembly is on break, if not, we could have taken legislative actions on it.

But that is the limitation that I have at the moment. Nevertheless, I was able to communicate with the Inspector General of Police, IGP, and he sent a rapid response. He sent the AIG Operations and some other AIGs, the Commissioner of Police, and many others to ensure that normalcy is restored within the constituency.

I appreciate the IGP for his quick intervention. When it happened in Mangu about two years ago, in 2023 or so, the current IGP was an AIG then and he went to Mangu himself where I met him. So I know that he has a passion for the people and that may be the reason he responded immediately and that is why I guess my people have confidence in the police and are clamouring to have a mobile barrack in the constituency.

I’m not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that the cry of my people reaches President Tínubu and he grants us this particular plea. I know that, by the grace of God, we will be able to overcome the menace that is affecting us now.

Can you tell us where these attacks are coming from? Is it a religious or communal problem? Who are these killers attacking your people?

They are using this to divide our people according to religion and ethnicity and, therefore, we will not do that. We are united and will continue to be a unifying force. Actually, security agencies are fishing out the perpetrators one after the other. I know they are doing that, especially the DSS, the NIA.

Very soon, it will be disclosed. So when you are being attacked in the night, you can hardly dictate who is who. However, we are suspecting the Fulani militia. That is all the allegation but such allegation will be proven by security agencies in a short time, I believe.

Are you alleging that some Fulanis are attacking these communities to take over their land?

Well, at the moment, we cannot say they want to take it because God has allocated land to everybody. This is our ancestral land. You have your own. You have where you were born. You have your origin. Go back to your origin and stay. All I know is that nobody can take our land. Yes, nobody can take our land, by the grace of God.

You also mentioned earlier that some things are being put in place. Can you please tell us exactly what the state government has done to address this issue?

When this massacre started again, I met with the governor and complained to him. I asked him what he was doing about it and he told me that he’s working tirelessly with security agencies. He ensured that we have some personnel of state security outfit, ‘Operation Rainbow’ deployed to the place.

In that particular place where the massive massacre has been taking place, we call it Whurti, a village on the Manguna ward or district, about 36 people were killed there based on the report that reached my table. So it was the governor that released the Armored Personnel Carrier, APC, that enabled many security personnel and others to move to that village. With this, I can say that security agencies and the state government have tried their best, trying to fish out the perpetrators and I know that, by the grace of God, some of them were already being fished out. I give kudos to the governor for doing that.

He did not relent, he also communicated with the IGP and the CDS and all of them were in Plateau. When an issue comes like this, we don’t look into political parties and positions, but we have to bring ourselves together because it affects everybody. So, united we stand, we can be able to defeat the perpetrators of this act.

As the National Assembly is still on recess, what exactly are you doing in the interim to give relief to those who have been affected by these attacks?

In the interim, I have approached the Refugee Commission to get some relief materials for the victims. Unfortunately, they said that they don’t have much but they are expecting goods any moment and as soon as they get it, they will deploy it to the IDPs.

Because my responsibility is lawmaking and lobbying, I’m lobbying so that we can get so many because people have been displaced and they have nowhere, no shelter, no food. So, I am working tirelessly with the agencies such as NEMA and Refugee Commission to ensure we give them some succour.

Can you say that the federal government has done well so far in handling this particular problem in Plateau State?

Sincerely, they have been doing their best. The president has given a marching order to all the security agencies to ensure they bring peace on the Plateau and fish out the perpetrators.

The President is doing his best and I give kudos to him.

Do you know the number of people that have lost their lives so far in the attacks?

Yes. Presently, as at last two days, we have about 51. 36 were in Whurti, four in Munguna, and eleven in Uruwi, making it 51. Some people were injured and are receiving treatment in hospitals. We are still monitoring them.

What’s the security presence in the area like now?

The security agents are everywhere, in the villages passing the nights, trying to protect the people and track the perpetrators. We are uniting our people so that we can equally help ourselves by being more vigilant. Our people are not troublemakers, but they should be able to guard and protect themselves from whosoever that is coming to attack them subsequently.

But we can only achieve that by working together. And we are working towards uniting ourselves so that we can protect ourselves because whatever the government is going to do is just assistance. And when you say somebody is assisting you, it means you are the one doing the foundation yourself.