A fact-finding committee on incessant killings in Plateau, set up by Governor Caleb Mutfwang, has revealed that attackers often infiltrate the state from neighbouring states.
Chairman of the committee and a retired Major General, Rogers Ibe Nicholas, said members met with ethnic nationalities, interest groups, and visited all violence-hit communities to gather first-hand information.
He said the findings showed that the perpetrators frequently enter Plateau from Nasarawa, Kaduna, Bauchi and Taraba.
His words: “The committee received a report of disturbances by bandits who are said to have established their cells in two villages of Nasarawa state bordering Quan’pan and forcing Plateau communities in Quan’pan to flee.
“In Wase and Kanam, the presence of bandits’ cells with suspected links to extremist organisations was reported.”
Nicholas said the motives driving the attacks include control of land and resources, territorial expansion, ethno-religious dominance, political destabilisation, and criminal profiteering through kidnap-for-ransom and cattle rustling.
He added that the attackers exploit unmonitored routes along Plateau’s porous borders.
“These porous borders include entry ports from Nasarawa through Wamba, Lafia and Awe; from Kaduna through Lere, Kaura and Sanga; from Bauchi through Toro, Tafawa Balewa, Bagoro and Alkaleri; and from Taraba through Ibi and Karim Lamido.
“These routes are largely unmonitored and exploited by attackers for quick strikes and retreats,” he said.
The chairman lamented that Plateau has suffered devastating losses.
He stated: “With 420 communities attacked and nearly 12,000 lives lost, Plateau state cannot afford to treat such atrocities as business as usual.
“The violence in the state is coordinated, the motives deliberate, and the sequences devastating.”
While receiving the report at Government House, Jos, Mutfwang said his administration will implement the recommendations to ensure lasting peace.
He also promised to present the report to President Bola Tinubu and security experts.
The governor said this would give the federal government a clear perspective of the two-decade-long violence in Plateau and help in working out a permanent solution.
