I was being led by my aunt, but I never knew she was taking me to an Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp here in Kassa. “When we came, they told me the sad news that my parents and my siblings were killed.” Another IDP, Mrs. Vou Badung, said Darose was brought to the camp before she was told about the death of her parents.
Badung said the teenage girl could not hold herself and burst into tears which made almost everyone in the camp, including visitors, to start to cry. Darose was not alone, about 11,833 other victims of the herdsmen attacks, housed in about 17 camps in different parts of the state, had tales of woes when our correspondent visited. Doctors are also battling to save some other victims at the University of Jos Teaching Hospital (JUTH). For one of them, Dung Philemon from Ruku village, it is a miracle that he is still alive, as he was roasted by the attackers. He said: “It was about 3p.m. I was at the back of my house and I saw the Fulani herdsmen coming towards my direction with weapons and we ran inside of our houses. They started shooting and burning our houses.
The room that we ran to hide ourselves, they came and set fire to it. The fire burnt my face, my head and my neck. “They opened the door and we all fell down as if we were dead. They looked at us and concluded that we were dead and left. They set the room on fire again and left, thinking that we were all dead and we remained quiet in the room until they left. It was when we heard people crying in the village that we came out and we discovered that 36 persons were killed. We were then taken to the hospital.”
The majority of the IDPs are women, children, the elderly and pregnant women as well as nursing mothers. The attacks by herdsmen believed to be of Fulani extraction led to the killing of over 200 people, burning of houses and destruction of farmlands in communities in Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Bokkos and Mangu local government areas of Plateau.
Some of the victims, who are mostly women and children, told our correspondent that it was better they returned to their villages and be killed than live in the IDP camps while herdsmen continued to destroy their farms and communities. Some of the populated camps in various locations in Barkin Ladi and Riyom include COCIN RCC Church, Heipang with the highest 3,226 IDPs; Zawan Geosciences, located in Jos South Local Government, has 3,061, while St. John Vianney, Barkin Ladi has (1,558). Others are COCIN Church, Ban Heipang, 820; COCIN Church, Gassa 800; Riyom Community Hall (300) while Pilot Science School, Rahoss has 270 IDPs, among other camps. In some of the camps in Riyom and Barkin Ladi local government areas, it was observed that apart from shortage of food, clothing and other basic amenities, they are overcrowded, especially camps which are mostly church auditoriums and community halls. There is lack of toilet facilities, while some IDPs sleep on the floor.
This has triggered the fear of outbreak of cholera and other related diseases. However, some of the IDPs in the various camps vowed to return to their ravaged villages and be killed than continue to stay at the camps while their attackers keep on harvesting their farm produce and grazing on parts of the farms. A 79-year-old woman, Madam Chundung Deme, who escaped death in Gashish District of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area,currently in Heipang camp, said all she wanted was to go back to her ancestral land. She said: “Relief materials are not our problem; we want to go back to our villages. Our farmlands, including our farm produce, have been taken over by Fulani herdsmen.
They now harvest our farm produce, including Irish potatoes and graze on our farms now. What kind of wickedness is this? Yet, government and security agencies have not stopped them. “It is better for us to go back to our villages and be killed than staying here. What is the reason since our relations and family members have been killed? Now the attackers are occupying our land.” Another victim, 22-year-old Lyop Philip, whose family members were killed, was delivered of a baby boy a day before our correspondent visited the camp. The lady complained of lack of adequate mattress, blanket and a place to sleep as her major problems. She said: “I gave birth yesterday; no clothes for the baby, it was someone who borrowed me this one that the baby is wearing now. It is also difficult sleeping with the baby in the church auditorium. There is cold, no mattress and I don’t have a blanket. The mattresses we have are not enough; we have been sleeping on bare floor, using our wrappers that we managed to escape with.”
Philip’s house and food items were burnt down by the herders, while her family members were killed. Investigation revealed that the National Emergency and Management ment Agency (NEMA) has also not done enough to provide adequate relief materials to the various IDPs in the state. A visit to the largest IDP camp, located at COCIN RCC Church, Heipang, showed that for the 3,226 persons, NEMA only donated 200 mattresses, while the same thing also happened at the Geosciences camp, which also has a large population of 3,061 persons. A 49-year-old nursing mother, Esther Ishaku, at the Heipang Camp, told our correspondent that her father, mother, brother’s wife and three children were killed during the attacks at Gashish. She said: “We want to go back home. How can we continue to stay here in camp while our killers are moving freely in our villages, occupying our houses, taking over our farmlands? No. This is not acceptable. We have never planned to go and attack anyone, why will they come and kill us and take over our land and the authorities are keeping quiet? “We will go back to reclaim our farmlands.
They didn’t farm for us, why will they harvest for us? All we want is to go back to our homes.” Also at JUTH, Saty Wash from Gana-Rupp village, said: “It was on Saturday about 5p.m. We were at home and the Fulani climbed the hills, surrounded the entire village and started shooting people. We didn’t know that they will come down to the village and when we saw them, we called the security people, but they did not respond.
The herdsmen had a free day to carry out their operation and they left about 11p.m. That was when the security came. “Before then, we ran to a church where we hid and the herdsmen were making efforts to come to the church, but the people resisted them with the help of some security people. About 39 persons were killed in that village while several others were injured. It is as if they wanted to clear the entire village, but God helped those who survived the killings. I was shot when I was trying to hide about 8.30p.m. but I thank God that my family was saved.” Another victim, Stephen Danjuma, from Gana-Ropp, said: “It was Fulani people who came to attack us. They wanted to kill all of us, and they killed a lot of people in the village.
I was shot once at the ribs and the bullet came out through the other side and tore my hand. It was people from the community that took me to the hospital.” Istifanus Manasseh, from Zikereck, Gashish District, said: “It was on Saturday that we went for burial. After the burial, we were coming back, but we were attacked on the way. We were inside our cars when the Fulani opened fire and shot me at the back.” Fidelis Yakubu, from Ruku village, said it was an organised attack. He said: “We were at home in the afternoon working; we didn’t know that the Fulani herdsmen had surrounded the village. They shot once into the air and all of them started running into the village. We were running to escape and they were shooting directly at us; they killed several people. Corpses littered the entire village. I ran and hid somewhere, yet the Fulani met me there. They were shooting straight into the house and I was shot in the head and buttocks. They said if I don’t come out of the room, they would burn me inside the room.
As I was coming out from the door, one of them shot me and I fell down and held my breath. They told others that they had killed me. My entire family members escaped and they are in the IDP camp, but I lost my elder and younger brothers, my wife’s younger brother and one of my uncles.” In some of the most populated camps, the feeding condition is very poor; children are suffering from malaria, cold and other illnesses while pregnant women sleep on the floor. It was also learnt that more than six IDPs have lost their lives in the camps.
The first death was recorded in Riyom Community Hall camp where the IDPs, 90 per cent women and children, are battling poor sanitary conditions and sleeping on the bare floor. It was learnt that a 70-year-old man, Da Dachollom Bature, died in the camp in the first week of July, after battling an unknown sickness for long. Although he was sick before getting to the camp, Bature was said to have died due to inadequate medical care as the camp is one of the most neglected. Two others also died in the same camp in an accident involving two motorcycles.
A camp official, Mrs. Jane Tok, said the two IDPs were in a hurry to find means of survival for their families in the camp. She said: “One had gone out to find some money to provide for his family while the other was going out for same, both on bikes and they both crashed just close to the camp.” The two men, Samson Yohanna (33) and Gabriel Markus (35), died instantly. Also an 82-year-old woman also died at an IDP camp in Ban, Heipang, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area after a surveillance helicopter flew over the camp. The deceased, Nandis Ishaku, reportedly collapsed and died at the sound of the helicopter, presumably after recalling the horrors of the killings she witnessed in Nghar village from where she fled with her family. She was, however, believed to be hypertensive and had no medical care in the camp.
Plateau killings: We lost parents, children, spouses to herdsmen attacks
Reviewed by Favour Odimnfe
on
July 20, 2018
Rating:
Reviewed by Favour Odimnfe
on
July 20, 2018
Rating:
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