Plateau killings: Rising voices of discord among farmers, herdsmen, JTF

When in 2010, the then President Umaru Yar’Adua directed the establishment of the Special Task Force, STF, to tackle the rising wave of insecurity in Plateau State, the people of the state heaved a sigh of relief. File Photo: JTF officers But not long after its arrival, the STF, under the control of the then General Officer Commanding, GOC, 3rd Armoured Division, Rukuba, Major-General Saleh Maina, was accused of complicity in the genocide against the Berom people resident in Dyemburuk (Dogo Na Hauwa) where over 500 people, mostly women and children, were reportedly massacred. To address the issue, the Command of the STF was separated from that of the 3rd Armoured Division with both having different Commanders. Again, the people saw the effort as a welcome development. The new arrangement had hardly taken effect when the personnel attached to the STF were fingered in many atrocities in their areas of operation, especially in Jos-Bukuru metropolis, Riyom and Barkin Ladi. Some of the personnel were accused of raping young girls and women, indiscriminate arrests as well as extorting money from motorists. The situation forced the media and civil society organisations to cry out to the Federal Government to intervene. There were also allegations that some members of the STF were collaborating with the attackers. A resident of Foron who did not want to be named said: “These soldiers have been compromised to kill us. When a Fulani’s cows destroy a Berom man’s farmland and the issue is reported to the STF, they will say it is not in their line of duty to intervene, but when something happens to a Fulani cow even if it is our fault or not it becomes the soldiers’ duty.” Against this backdrop, residents of the areas have persistently called for the withdrawal of the STF from their areas as they believe their presence was not addressing the problem even with the huge financial commitments by all tiers of government. The call has intensified since an incident on June 22, 2015 when some STF members allegedly shot dead two women in Heipang, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area over a disagreement on where to mount a checkpoint in the area. Members of the community demanded an investigation with the aim of bringing to book of the trigger-happy soldiers; but nothing, according to them, has been heard of any investigation by the Force. But the STF’s spokesman, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha denied the allegation saying: “I am not aware that anyone died, there were shootings in the area, a woman was hit and she was taken to the hospital; it is not true that our men shot or killed anyone.” Few days later, on Wednesday July 1, the STF members stormed communities around Mararaba Foron and allegedly destroyed about 70 houses in Foron of the same Barkin Ladi following a purported “search operation” carried out in the area. “About 10 Hilux vans and one Armoured Personnel Carrier, APC, filled with soldiers and some Fulani herdsmen stormed the community at about 6.30 am,” a resident, Samson Tsok said. He said the soldiers harassed residents, destroying their property and causing pandemonium, thereby forcing the residents to flee for dear lives. Tsok who is the Acting National Chairman of Berom Youth Moulders, BYM, further said: “One Berom village, Foron, was attacked by unknown gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen on Tuesday night; two of our boys were killed in the attack and four people are still missing. Special task force Early this morning (Wednesday), some soldiers of the Special Task Force stormed the village without notice. The soldiers came to ransack our village without informing even our community and youth leaders; we don’t even know what they were searching for and they came in company of some Fulani people who were pointing at which houses to raid. At the end of the so-called search, they did not tell us if they found anything.” Explaining the situation, the Chairman of the local government area, Mr. Emmanuel Loman, told Vanguard Metro, VM, the STF should be called to order in the area. A ccording to him: “Some Fulani went to rear cows at the backyard of some Berom and a disagreement ensued which led to loss of lives on both sides. STF later claimed that some of their members were killed and they came with 10 Hilux vans and Armoured Personnel Carrier, breaking into people’s houses and causing confusion. I don’t know what to make of this because the STF members came in company of some Fulani. They also could not produce bodies of the soldiers allegedly killed.” Harassment by soldiers He further informed that the siege continued for two days, “with the soldiers harassing, flogging and injuring residents”, adding that all his pleas for restraint fell on deaf ears with one of the soldiers allegedly warning him not to provoke them. However, Leader of the Fulani herdsmen in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Muhammed Adams said: “Some of our boys went for grazing with cows on Tuesday evening; while grazing some armed men suspected to be Berom youths shot and killed eight cows. “Apart from shooting our cows the herdsmen grazing the cows were killed; we have found the body of a herdsman, but the other five are still missing.” Reacting to the situation, the STF Media and Information Officer, Captain Iweha: “We did not go to the village for nothing. It all started last Tuesday evening; at about 4:30pm about 400 cows were rustled in Foron; we followed up the report and recovered the cows. Apart from the cows rustled, eight were shot, six of the cows died, the other two were injured. In addition to that, the herdsmen who were grazing the cows could not be found. So early morning of yesterday, we went to the village to search for the missing herdsmen. We later found one body; we are still in search of five missing Fulani herdsmen up till this moment.