Plateau Killings: BYM Faults Police, Puts Death Toll At 110

BY CHAMBERLAIN ODEY, JOS – The Berom Youth Moulders Association on Monday faulted the report credited to the Plateau State Police Command which puts the death toll from Fulani herdsmen ambush and attack on villages in Plateau at 86.

The Berom Youth Association said the Police figure is a gross under representation of the casualty figure “which is so far 100.

In a statement signed by the socio-cultural group’s president, Choji Chuwang Dalyop, the group noted that it is “saddened by the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Berom land with the recent extermination of Xland, Gidin Akwati, Kakuruk, and Gana Ropp villages of Gashish district of Barkin Ladi local government area, and Shonong village of Riyom district in Riyom local government area where over one hundred and ten
natives of these villages have been confirmed killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen”.
The youth moulders organisation observed further that ‘between Monday 18 June and Friday 22 June, 2018, prior to the Saturday 23 June, 2018 major massacre, the Berom nation has consistently buried an average of
five (5) persons daily”.
Commenting on the dastardly and tragic developments which it dubbed as “genocidal attacks,” the Berom Educational and Cultural Organisation, BECO, said it is “disturbed by the painful holocaust, ethnic cleansing, and genocidal killing of our people within the span of three days”.
It noted further that “in the last three days alone, our communities in Razat, Raku, Tanabu, Tison, and Kakruk, have witnessed 33 brutal massacres”, adding that “at X-lands (Gindi Akwati), the death toll is 31, while the Nghar villages of Gashish district, the heist casualty of 67 massacres have been recorded”.
BECO also said in “Gana Ropp village, 33 were confirmed killed, while the number of those similarly murdered in gruesome manner in Chik village of Heipang district stands at two.”

In Shonong village of Riyom district, BECO reported, 11 persons were murdered during the period, adding that; “in the last three days, the Berom have lost about 150 members of its community”.
In a related development, the bloody crisis in the Plateau North zone of the state has taken a toll on the tempo of socio-economic activities in the state. With a dusk-to-dawn curfew slammed on the three local government areas of Jos South, Barkin Ladi, and Riyom as earlier gains in the revival of the hospitality, leisure, and tourism
aspects of the state economy are either stagnated or reversed, as leisure destinations such as clubs, restaurants, bars, and football viewing centres have to close in response to curfew regulations.
On Monday, some public and private schools could not open and let in pupils as the security atmosphere was still uncertain and unpredictable.

Similarly commercial activities in market in Bukuru metropolis, Jos South, showed an unusual lull, just as prices of staples and seasonals such as roasted maize reacted quickly as ones that previously sold for N50 went up a hundred per cent to N100.