The scene was unsightly. It was ghoulish and shuddering. Human beings were being offloaded like bags of cement. A pile of lifeless bodies were stacked up in a truck like layers of yam tubers being conveyed to the market.
They were the ugliness that reminded us of the bestiality of some of us who relish in shedding innocent blood to ingratiate some inglorious, vile obsessions. They were the hapless victims of the orgy of mindless killings that have become a recurring decibel on the plateau. They were the spectacles from the Bokkos carnage.
Plateau State had once been an idyllic, sedate scenery, a tourist haven. But the hitherto picturesque trappings have become sprawling swathes of land now constantly tarred with the blood of the innocent.
The blood-thirsty goons swooped on Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State on April 2 and 3, 2025 and left tears, blood and sorrow on their trail. Over 60 people, including women, children, and the elderly, were mauled down in cold blood. Thousands were also displaced. Entire communities—Mangor Tamiso, Daffo, Manguna, Hurti, Tadai, and Ruwi—have been thrown into mourning, their lands desecrated and their homes razed by militias believed to be Fulani terrorists.
According to the village head of Hurti, one of the affected communities, Maren Aradong, about 40 persons were killed and 1,000 others displaced in the attack on that locality alone. They also burnt down 383 houses, in addition to destroying foodstuffs and other precious items, Aradong bemoaned ruefully. Hurti is situated in Manguna District of Bokkos LGA.
The District Head of Manguna in Bokkos, Alo Raymond, revealed that the heavily armed deadly attackers were so audacious that, even though they were known persons in the area, they did not bother to cover their faces. The district head insisted that the attackers were not strangers.
“They are people we know. They didn’t wear masks while committing the crime. We have submitted their names to the security agencies and expect them to take action,” he said. He alleged that the motive behind the recurring violence is an attempt to seize indigenous land.
About 10 mourners were also killed in Bokkos earlier on March 27, 2025 when gunmen suspected to be Fulani militias attacked a wake keep.
The land grabbing obsession could also account for the Fulani terrorists’ macabre expedition in Benue State, which bears resemblance with Plateau State in luxuriant vegetations. Benue particularly was one of the nation’s major food baskets, just like Plateau and Nasarawa States, until Fulani bandits invaded the state and upended farming activities.
Benue has one of the richest arable lands in Nigeria. The best of yams and fruits were churched from the place. But these Fulani terrorists have chased away the farmers from their farms not just in Benue but other states in the food belt region with their ruinous activities, killing and maiming people on their farms, while their women are raped at will. Their egregious forays have accounted for food scarcity that has foisted famine on the land.
Plateau’s spate of killings began around 1994 when five persons were killed in a violence that ensued after the indigenous people of Berom, Anaguta, and Afizere rejected a sole administrator for the Jos North Local Government Area of the state, till the April 2 massacre.
Since 2001 when the crisis escalated, a report by Human Rights Watch revealed that the Plateau conflicts, over which former President Olusegun Obasanjo imposed an emergency rule over the state in 2004, have claimed more than 7,000 lives and displaced up to 220,000.
The orgy of Plateau massacre resurged in December, 2023, after a spell of graveyard peace. The coordinated attacks that seized 62 villages recorded over 140 deaths. The sporadic attacks on Plateau villages have continued unabated since then with records of heavy casualties.
Only recently, a father and his two sons were reportedly killed in Zogu village, Miango District, Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State. The spokesman of Irigwe Development Association, Sam Jugo, who confirmed the killings in Jos, gave the names of the victims as Weyi Gebeh, Zhu Weyi, and Henry Weyi.
He said the victims were killed while they were asleep. Jugo said: “The leadership of Irigwe Development Association has been notified of yet another attack on Zogu village, Miango which claimed the lives of a father and two of his sons namely: Weyi Gebeh, 56 years; Zhu Weyi, 25; and Henry Weyi, 16.
“This recent event brings to nine deaths recorded this week alone. IDA expresses its utmost displeasure on the deteriorating situation in Irigweland and calls on the security agencies to do whatever is required to halt this barbarism on our land and get perpetrators apprehended to face justice.
“The way criminal elements invade our motherland and kill with impunity seems to suggest a more sinister motive than mere reprisals. IDA, therefore, calls on the Plateau State government and the security to do the needful and stop the killing of innocent people in Irigweland.”
The killing and kidnapping spree in Benue State went international on March 12,2025 when the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Benue State, Wilfred Anagbe, appeared at the United States House on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and opened a visceral underpinning, alleging religious persecution behind the veil of bandits’ murderous campaign in Benue.
He had said that Christians were being subjected to increasing persecution in Nigeria, most especially in Benue, a situation, he said, had remained unabated, urging the US and UK to re-designate Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC). He reeled out statistics to back his claims; although the vicious Fulani bandits are known to attack, kidnap and kill Muslims too.
A flurry of backlash, however, expectedly trailed Bishop Anagbe’s controversial US testimony— The Federal Government has refuted it and many groups, especially the influential Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs(NSCIA), the Senate and House of Representatives leaderships, among others, have taken serious umbrage at the Bishop’s claims. And there have been calls for his arrest and prosecution for a needless religious profiling of the country.
The National Association of Catholic Lawyers of Nigeria (NACL), however, defended Bishop Anagbe and strongly condemned calls for his arrest and prosecution for daring to speak the truth. According to NACL’s President, Polycarp Aande, between 2018 and 2024, in what commentators described as isolated cases, Nigeria lost about 15 Catholic parishes; 124 priests kidnapped, some were killed, while others regained freedom but at very high cost with many churches destroyed.
Aande said a Christian body, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), reported a 2024 Christmas Day massacre, which claimed the lives of 47 Christians attending a service in Anwase Gboko Diocese, Benue State. Adults and children were killed and eight parish buildings, including the church and clinic, were also burnt to ashes.
Just as the Fulani bandits have held the North -central states of Plateau, Benue and Nasarawa by the balls, so are they terrorizing states in the Northwest, especially Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna, where bandits’kingpins are holed up in massive forests, lording it ruthlessly over the communities. They kill with ferocious glee and kidnap for large ransoms. They impose tax on many of the communities at will.
The military campaign against the terrorists’ onslaughts had been revivified and the gallant troops frontally confronted the bandits, especially at the onset of the Bola Tinubu administration. They neutralized some of their notorious kingpins through intelligence-led operations in Zamfara and Katsina States. Those already neutralized included Yusuf Gwamna, Gwaska, Yellow Aboko, “Mallam,” among others.
However, the military onslaughts appear to be waning because the troops have been stretched thin. They are involved in operations in virtually almost every state. Fighting fatigue is probably setting in. The bandits are latching onto the lacuna to resurge with the ferocity of wounded lions.
The initial military feats in the Northeast also appear to be going in reverse gear as the Boko Haram insurgents, who had been dealt great blows, seem to be recouping lost grounds. The resurgence was the basis of the hot exchanges between the Federal Government and Borno Governor, Babagana Zulum, last week.
While the governor claimed that the state is losing grounds to the terrorists, citing the recent attacks on military formations, killings and abductions of residents, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, contended that the security agencies are working round the clock to bring the situation in parts of Borno State under control.
Some of the incidents Zulum advanced include Boko Haram militants’ attacks on two military formations in Borno State on March 24, targeting an army base in Wajirko, Damboa Local Government Area, and another in Wulgo, Gamboru Ngala Local Government Area.
Of course, some of the insurgents were killed during the attacks, but the troopse were dislodged from their bases. Again, at least two soldiers were feared killed, while others sustained injuries when a convoy, including the newly deployed Brigade Commander of ‘Operation Hadin Kai,’ struck landmines along the Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu road.
At least, 40 farmers were feared killed in the Dumba community in the Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State in January, this year, by suspected members of Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province. Many others were believed to have been kidnapped by the insurgents during the attack.
Zulum, who was addressing the Special Expanded Security Meeting at the Government House, Maiduguri, said his administration had been supportive of the military in the fight against Boko Haram and other terrorists, resulting in relative peace in the last three years.
“As I address this important gathering today, it is unfortunate that the renewed Boko Haram attacks and kidnappings in many communities almost on a daily basis without confrontation resignalled that Borno State is losing grounds.”
“It is disheartening to note the recent attacks and dislodgement of military formations in Wajirko, Sabon Gari in Damboa local government, Wulgo in Gamboru Ngala, Izge in Gwoza local government areas among other related killing of innocent civilians and security agencies calls for serious concern, and it is a setback in the fragile state of Borno and the North-East region”
He added: “In as much as Borno Government under my leadership commends the Federal Government under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the security agencies for their unwavering support in the fight against Boko Haram, more efforts have to be put in place through equipping and deploying of technological warfare to stem the tide of renewed attacks bedevilling parts of the sahelian Borno, which shares international borders with three African countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon.”
However, the information minister disagreed with the governor’s assertion, noting that the synergy in the operations of the security agencies, especially in the last two years, and the massive investment in hardware and other equipment underscored the seriousness with which the Federal Government attached to the issue.
He averred: ‘’The Tinubu administration is committed to eradicating acts of banditry and terrorism across the country. The successes achieved by the security agencies in the last 18 months are an indication that, indeed, Nigeria is gradually returning to normalcy.
“Government calls on all, especially the sub-national governments, to join hands to ensure rapid eradication of the remaining pockets of criminal elements wherever they may be.’’
The Defence Headquarters, in its reaction, said troops are making a lot of sacrifices and doing their best to ensure peace returns to Borno and other troubled states in the country.
The Director, Defence Media Operations, Major-Gen. Markus Kangye said: “The military is sacrificing a lot, and our efforts should be appreciated. We are doing our best. We are doing what we are supposed to do, and we are still doing it.”
The insecurity maelstrom has become a nationwide hysterical bother. In the Federal Capital Territory(FCT)), activities of bandits-turned- kidnappers have cast a pall of gloom, turning a hitherto peaceful haven into a terror enclave.
Down south, most of the swathes of thick vegetations now bristle with heavily armed bandits, who sporadically venture into highways to kidnap travelers and drag them into the thick forests from where they negotiate for ransoms. Some are killed even after receiving ransoms, while many women are raped without mercy.
The situation is, however, relatively fair in the South West because the local security network, christened Amotekun, funded by the governors, has been making gallant efforts to contain the murderous marauders.
Like we noted earlier, our military, whose infrantry is rated as one of the best in Africa, should ordinarily be able to tame the ragtag army that the terrorists and insurgents are, but the permanent solution goes beyond military option, which is merely scratching it on the surface.
The tap root of both banditry, an heinous legacy bequeathed to the nation by the Buhari administration,and insurgency, is their sponsors and financiers, who probably have an axe to grind with the government, and arm the terrorists with sophisticated and modern weapons, fund and feed them heavily. Their backers are believed to be deep pockets who ensure that their line of supplies is inexhaustible.
So, until the tap root is properly dealt with, it will be an uphill task to totally put paid to their deadly activities. The administration of Bola Tinubu, who has several times demonstrated that he has the courage of his conviction, must muster the will and the way to carry this through.
Let a high-powered commission be put in place whose members will be retired but still energetic military officers, retired but still strong police officers, retired but not tired judges, top notch lawyers with integrity and some vibrant members of the private sector.
They will exploit the intelligence of the nation’s security apparati to ferret out those sponsors, openly prosecute and jail them for lengthy years without an option of fines or deal ruthlessly with them according to the law without fear or favour. And heaven will not fall.
Putting the financiers away like this will naturally cut off the terrorists’ chain of supplies. Just like the river becomes vulnerable the moment it dries up, the terrorists will become ‘naked’ and empty once they no longer get supplies. It will then be a doddle for our gallant troops to tame them.
