Plateau slams Army over failure to arrest killers of 27 farmers

The Plateau State Government has expressed frustration with the Nigerian Army for failing to apprehend or neutralise the gunmen who killed 27 farmers in Tahoss community, Riyom Local Government Area, on Monday.

Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Friday, the state Commissioner for Information, Joyce Ramnap, said the military had engaged the attackers during the incident but failed to make any arrests, despite the proximity of a checkpoint.

“The checkpoint is barely 200 metres from where this incident happened.

“The response we got was that none were arrested and none were captured. None of those killed were affected by all that happened,” she said.

She noted that the attacked community is near an access road and surrounded by military checkpoints, making the lack of arrests more concerning.

Ramnap stated, “It is not a hidden community that we would say it is far, and that is why the people were not able to access help.

“We do not want to stereotype and say that the entire Army compromised in this case.

However, there is room to do more investigation, and the governor specifically requested that at least they should have some form of arrest.

“If you are that close and you engaged them closely like that, you should be able to say this is where they followed and the measures to arrest them, but so far, no arrest has been made.”

Ramnap described the attack as unprovoked and despicable, adding that in addition to killing people, the assailants destroyed crops on farmlands.

Echoing Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s earlier comments, she said the repeated killings amounted to genocide.

She added that although some soldiers in the state were gallant, “we still have the bad eggs among them.”

The commissioner said the attack came from three directions, and that the group that targeted people hiding in a church inflicted the most damage.

“The attacks came from three different sides of the community. One side was able to contain them and ensure that nothing happened.

The other side that was closest to the place where the people were hiding in the church, those were the ones that were worst hit, and that is why we got that number of casualties.

“The pastor of that church, at a point, said he would not stay there and wait for them to kill him as well. He left, and his wife followed him, and right in his house, six people were killed,” she stated.

Plateau has been plagued by a series of brutal killings in recent months.

In April, more than 100 people were killed in attacks across Bokkos and Bassa LGAs, drawing national and global outrage.

The April death toll was the highest since gunmen killed about 150 residents on Christmas Eve in 2023.