A scary picture of the uprooting of inhabitants of seven villages from their indigenous lands by suspected Fulani killer herdsmen in Bokkos Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State, has emerged.
Not done with forcibly removing the indigenes, with scores allegedly killed in the process and thousands fleeing for sake of their dear lives, the invaders proceeded to occupy the lands,take over existing livestock and generally enjoy the comfort of living on the properties of the original owners.
The Wazirin Mushere and community leader in the LGA, Da Yohana Margif, painted the picture in a statement to newsmen.
He named the occupied villages as Hokk, Kaban, Kadim, Nawula, Dulu, Mbor, and Margif.
Giving a vivid description of what happened, Da Margif said the seven communities, all in the Mushere Chiefdom (his domain), were attacked and devastated by the heavily armed terrorists.
According to him, the herdsmen started by launching relentless attacks on the communities in a period stretching over three months, killing many in the process, thus unsettling the residents and forcing them to flee their ancestral homes for shelter at Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and other places.
Da Margif added that after sacking the communities, the herdsmen took over and proceeded to change the communities’ indigenous names to Fulani names.
They also began to patrol the areas with heavy arms in an apparent show of determination to defend and protect their new acquisitions,he stated.
He further revealed that thereafter, they began building their tents and unleashed their herds of cattle to graze with impunity on the original inhabitants’ lush farmlands.
The Wazirin Mushere also disclosed that presently thousands of his displaced people are forced to live high up in the many mountains in the area and were “roaming in the wilderness” to try and feed off nature at a time when they should be working on their farms, even as the Fulani comfortably live on their ancestral lands.
His words: “The Fulani terrorists have set up tents in our lands on which their cattle are grazing, which is visible for everybody to see.
“They have built tents and are openly carrying guns around. They have practically and brazenly usurped our lands and livestock.
“Now that the terrorists’ identity is known, let the relevant authorities direct the security agencies to go after them, so that our people can return to their ancestral homes.”
Da Margif pleaded with the state government to take urgent and decisive actions to restore peace and security to the communities as “the people deserve protection, justice, and the right to live in their ancestral homes without fear.”
