The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, arrived at Yakubu Gowon Airport in Heipang on Saturday to offer condolences and assess the areas affected by attacks in the Zikke community of Bassa Local Government Area.
He was greeted by Major General Folusho Oyinlola, the General Officer Commanding 3 Division of the Nigerian Army and Commander of Operation Safe Haven, along with retired Brigadier General Gakji Shipi, the Special Assistant to the Governor on security matters, and other senior military officials.
In related news, a prominent Northern Christian cleric, Isa El-Buba, has raised concerns about what he describes as an ongoing genocide in the state. El-Buba alleged that foreign terrorists are collaborating with some local herders to violently displace communities and take over their ancestral lands.
“These are not the local herders that we used to know. These are Fulani terrorists who target communities. When these terrorists come in, they connive with some of the locals.
”They give them information. They come in from outside and they invade,” he said.
Speaking during an appearance on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Friday, a socio-political programme on Channels TV, the cleric strongly supported the recent assertion by Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, that the attacks in the state amount to genocide.
The Jos-based cleric, who hails from Borno State, while speaking on the recent killings on the Plateau, argued that the repeated and coordinated nature of the violence indicates a well-orchestrated plan to destabilise the region and ultimately reconfigure its demographic and territorial identity.
