BY JONATHAN IPAA – A whistleblower has warned that more arms and hired fighters are being mobilized into the trouble spot of Miango, Rukuba Jos in Plateau state.
The warning is coming on the heels of the arrest of a Fulani armed merchant, Mallam Likita Jauro on Saturday by a joint team of Police and the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) in Akwanga, Nasarawa State following a tip off from a whistle blower.
A security source in Doma, Nasarawa state, said that more mercenaries are already in Plateau while arms are being expected from neighbouring Nasarawa, Taraba and Kaduna states respectively.
Likita Jauro, who was apprehended on Saturday at Akwanga by security agencies with 53 cartridges containing two hundred AK-47 live ammunition, confessed during interrogation that advance team of six persons had successfully beaten the security system going to the troubled Miango, Rukuba area where more than one hundred persons were killed recently.
The Irigwe community of Rukuba in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau state has reported the loss of 82 of their kinsmen earlier while the Fulani community said the 22 persons killed on the road were their members.
However, the process of peace-building, forgiveness and truce commenced at the weekend in faraway Akure, the Ondo state capital where both the Ondo and Plateau states officials met with the some Fulani leaders.
The Federal Government has also deployed a large number of security personnel to the affected area of Jos, the Plateau State capital to tame possible escalation of crisis. Security personnel deployed include the police Special Forces even as casualties continue to rise.
Already, the University of Jos, which has lost two students in the crisis, was forced to shut down academic activities while states and parents evacuated their students and children.
It was also gathered that though there was no direct link to religious leaders, the recent BBC Hausa service interview granted by Sheik Dahiru Bauchi where he demanded full compensation for every single life lost as a condition for forgiveness may have given backing to the latest moves by the armed mercenaries.
