Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang has revealed that bandits have taken control of 64 communities in his state.
He told a Channels Television’s Politics Today programme that terrorist groups were wreaking havoc in the state, adding that they were being sponsored by yet-to-be-identified individuals.
“I can tell you in all honesty that I cannot find any explanation other than genocide sponsored by terrorists,” the governor said.
“The question is, who are the persons behind this terrorism? This is what the security agencies must help us to unravel.
“We must come to the point where we know the sponsors because it is not just the work of ordinary people. This is being sponsored from somewhere.
“These communities that have been recently attacked were part of the communities that were attacked in 2023 but they survived it and rebuilt themselves. The Ruwi community that was first attacked lost about 17 people in 2023 but they bounced back to show you the resilience of the people.
“If these attacks have been going on for close to 10 years, it tells you that there is a deliberate, conscious attempt to clean out populations and to reopen.
“As I am talking to you, there are not less than 64 communities that have been taken over by bandits on the Plateau between Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Riyom Local Government Areas. They have been taken over, renamed and people are living there conveniently on lands they pushed people away to occupy.
“I am sure that in the coming days, the security agencies will work together, not at cross purposes but in unison, to be able to bring out the requisite intelligence that will help us to put this matter behind us.”
Last week, the governor had said the crisis rocking the state was beyond farmer-herder clashes.
“I must say that the aim of the enemy is to throw the state into gloom and mourning but we will rise above their intent and not give them what they want. For those who think that the current situation is a farmer-herder issue, let me disabuse your mind from that perception; it is a product of organised crime by malicious elements who do not want peace to reign in the state.
“I want to assure the good people of Plateau that God will give us victory over these miscreants and their end has come,” he had said.
