By Paschal Emeka, Abuja
A lawmaker representing Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency of Plateau state, at the House of Representatives, Hon. Solomon Maren has called on the international community as well as well-meaning and good-spirited individuals within Nigeria and those in the diaspora to rise up and come to the aid of his constituents.
Hon. Maren spoke on Thursday while briefing Correspondents covering the House of Representatives at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja following recent incessant attacks on his constituents.
The lawmaker who was visibly disturbed and aggrieved over the recent spate of wanton killings and destruction of lives and property by those suspected to be herders and militia groups in Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency also charged security agencies to move into action as the government has the basic responsibility to protect lives and property of her constituents.
He described as barbaric the killing of innocent and peace-loving, law-abiding citizens urging all right-thinking Nigerians to rise and condemn such atrocity in its entirety.
The Lawmaker, therefore, called on the Federal Government to mandate the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, as well as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to as a matter of urgency, send relief materials to the victims of the unfortunate attack in order to ease their sufferings.
He explained further by saying: I want the whole world to know that on the 14th day of November 2022 an innocent and law-abiding citizen in Gold village of Butura land was attacked, maimed, and killed while returning from the farm for just no reason.
“I equally want to put on record that on 15th November 2022, a group of militia suspected to be herders, fully armed with sophisticated weapons and ammunitions launched an attack on Maikatako village also in Butura ward of Bokkos Local Government Area where they killed and burnt to ashes more than 11 people, injured many and destroyed properties worth millions of Naira as well as left hundreds of people homeless and displaced,” he explained
“We are disturbed that these attacks are just too many, just within a month; we
have buried more than 30 able-bodied men and women including children.
“Unfortunately, despite the presence of Operation Safe Haven; sector 5, the
attackers appeared more armed than the security agents as they could not counter,
repel or scare them away.
“We are concerned that the miscreants do have a field day perpetrating evil for
hours without any form of challenge and or confrontation by the security agencies.
Worst still, hitherto, no single arrest and no deliberate effort has been made
to bring these hoodlums to book.
“We are worried that, this is a systematic, well coordinated and pre-planned
an attack aimed at total ethnic cleansing and annihilation of indigenous inhabitants towards a slow land-grabbing agenda.