The Plateau State Government has openly criticized the Nigerian Army’s inability to apprehend the gunmen responsible for killing 27 farmers in the Tahoss community, Riyom Local Government Area, earlier this week. The chilling attack happened on Monday, with survivors and officials alike expressing deep frustration over the lack of arrests.
Speaking on a Friday broadcast of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Plateau State Commissioner for Information, Joyce Ramnap, revealed that despite an army checkpoint located barely 200 meters from the attack site, no suspects have been detained or neutralized. “The response we got was that none were arrested and none were captured. None of those killed were affected by all that happened,” Ramnap disclosed, highlighting troubling gaps in military response.
The community’s strategic location, adjacent to an access road and encircled by several military checkpoints, intensifies concerns about the operational effectiveness of security forces. Ramnap underlined, “It is not a hidden community that we would say it is far, and that is why the people were not able to access help.”
While refusing to paint the entire Nigerian Army with the same brush, the commissioner stressed there is a critical need for thorough investigation. “The governor specifically requested that at least they should have some form of arrest… if you are that close and you engaged them closely like that, you should be able to say this is where they followed and measures to arrest them, but so far, no arrest has been made,” she added.
According to Ramnap, the assailants conducted the attack from three different directions, with the worst devastation inflicted on farmers who had taken shelter inside a local church. A particularly harrowing detail involved the church’s pastor who had to flee with his wife to evade death, only for six people to be killed in his house shortly after.
The massacre is one in a series that has plagued Plateau State recently and reflects a pattern of violence that some authorities have condemned as an attempt at genocide. Governor Caleb Mutfwang has been particularly vocal in denouncing these recurring killings, underscoring the urgent need for decisive action.
In addition to the tragic loss of lives, the gunmen also rampaged through farmlands, destroying crops and livelihood. This latest attack came nearly three months after a brutal onslaught in April, where more than 100 residents in Bokkos and Bassa LGAs lost their lives, the highest death toll in Plateau since the Christmas Eve massacre of 2023.
Okay.ng reports that these ongoing atrocities have left many communities living in fear, with state officials calling for enhanced vigilance and accountability from the military to prevent further bloodshed.
