JOS — Plateau State has descended into further bloodshed as suspected Fulani terrorists launched a series of brutal, coordinated attacks across several local government areas, leaving dozens dead and many more missing. The massacres occurred despite a high-stakes show of force by Governor Caleb Mutfwang, who personally visited the traumatized communities while riding in a military armoured personnel carrier (APC).
The bold defiance of the attackers, who struck shortly after the Governor’s security warnings, has heightened fears that the state is facing a full-scale insurgency targeted at total displacement of indigenous farming populations.
A Governor Under Armour
In a rare and grim display of the security reality on the Plateau, Governor Mutfwang was seen touring the ravaged villages of Bassa and Barkin Ladi LGAs in a military armoured tank. The move was intended to signal the state’s readiness to meet fire with fire, but for many residents, the sight of their leader in a war machine only underscored how dangerous their ancestral homes have become.
While standing atop the armoured vehicle to address survivors, a defiant Mutfwang declared that the state would no longer tolerate the “impunity of the killers,” yet the scent of smoke still lingered over the burnt remains of homes just a few hundred metres away.
Night of the Long Knives: The Attacks
The terrorists, described by survivors as heavily armed Fulani militia, reportedly coordinated their movements to strike at least three local government areas simultaneously.
- Bassa LGA: In Nbrazongo, the attackers moved with lethal precision, targeting women and children. The casualties include pregnant women and infants, many of whom were hacked down as they attempted to flee into the bushes.
- Barkin Ladi: Multiple hamlets were razed to the ground. Local vigilantes reported that the terrorists used sophisticated communication gadgets and high-calibre weapons that outmatched the community’s traditional defences.
- Bokkos Axis: Search and rescue teams continue to find bodies in the surrounding fields, with the number of “missing persons” now running into the dozens.
The Disarmament Scandal
The latest killings have ignited a firestorm of criticism against the federal security architecture. Community leaders pointed out that the Fulani terrorists struck barely 48 hours after a controversial military “mop-up” operation that saw local youths disarmed of their hunting rifles and defensive tools.
“We were stripped of our only means of protection under the guise of ‘maintaining order,'” said a community spokesman in Barkin Ladi. “While we were being searched by the army, the terrorists were already positioning themselves in the hills. They waited for us to be defenseless before they pounced.”
Mutfwang’s War Footing
From the hatch of the armoured tank, Governor Mutfwang issued an immediate ban on night grazing and restricted mining activities—two sectors often cited as covers for terrorist logistics. He vowed that the state’s security outfit, Operation Rainbow, would be further empowered to work alongside the military to hunt down the perpetrators.
As the mass burials begin, the people of Plateau remain skeptical. For them, the Governor’s armoured tank was a powerful symbol of state authority, but the reality on the ground remains a landscape of mass graves and empty villages.
