Our Hope Is In God's Hand-Bokkos LGA Communities

As the deadly mass killing continued in Bokkos council area, Plateau state, a first class traditional ruler, the Saf Ron Kulere, Sir Lazarus Agai of Agai, was killed. Until his murder in 2016, Sir Agai, was the traditional ruler of the home town of former governor Joshua Dariye, and also Chairman of Bokkos Traditional Rulers’ Council. 

Since then, the killing has only enjoyed intermittent stops, peaking again shortly before Christmas 2023, with over 155 people dispatched to their early graves. 

Determined to get an insider details of what transpired in the recent events, FreshNews multi media, your soar-away online platform, reached out and got a ringside view on your reading behalf. 

In this interview with Kefas Mallai, head of the Youth Peace Network and Community Peace Observers, Bokkos LGA, FreshNews was told that hope for Bokkos' survival now lies squarely in the hands of God, not government. 

Happy Reading... 

How are your people feeling over this continuous killing?

The general feeling is that of apprehension. Herders who are now in Bokkos as IDP's are saying that natives are going to attack them. So many if them are leaving the town to other places like Jos, Bauchi and other places where they feel safer. Then, from the natives side, there are rumours too that the Fulanis are coming to attack them again. Now both the Fulanis and some natives are worried and looking for elsewhere to go. But the Fulanis are more worried and are leaving more than the natives.

You mean the tension is still high and that the possibility of more attacks is still there?

Tension is high but the possibility of any attack is not likely, because the way I see things, it is just rumour. But some that are afraid are leaving especially like two or three days ago and then yesterday (Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 31, 30 and 29 respectively). As I speak to you now, the security situation as at yesterday (December 31)has been beefed up in Bokkos because a good number of policemen came to town, a good number of military men are also here. So security has been beefed up not only in Bokkos but in in some of the villages. Because of that, people are now more confident.

Before all these killings, you sometimes hear rumours. When you hear rumours now, are you not afraid that it could happen again?

Actually, it was three days ago that I thought it was possible. But between that day and yesterday, I slept very well because I already understood that nothing will happen by the grace of God because there is security more than before. Even though there are gun shots in different parts, I just realized that it is either the military was using it to scare intending attackers or some people that have guns in their possession were using it to scare any possible attack. When they perceive any attack, they would shoot their guns to scare possible attackers. Saturday night some people were seen coming from the bush in my area. So we sent early warning to the military, I personally called them and their response gave us confidence and the people seen could not get us but went back in the night, around 11, 12pm.

You mean people coming in to attack?

Yes I supposed so. When we saw a good number of touch lights or some movements from the bush, we had to send early warning to appropriate authorities and when we on our touch lights we saw the people going back. If they were not really attackers, they may be other people who are like trying to defend their areas since there are settlements nearby.

These cases have been happening and I am sure you people have notifying security men around you. How come that in spite of the presence or nearness of security people, this things keeps happening?

Actually, it is no longer news that this violence has been happening in Mangu local government, which shares boundary with Bokkos. Now the herders that were living in Mangu moved into Bokkos territory. Because of the huge number of herders that are now in Bokkos with their cattle the number of cattle became too many for the land of Bokkos which made the farmers feel a kind of threatened. Because the number of cattle was too many for Bokkos, before you know, we began to have small conflicts between farmers and herders because the cattle were feeding on crops whether deliberately or not. I mediated and settled some of the cases when it started. Sometimes, somehow, the Fulanis crossed into Mangu to graze again and people in Mangu are far against that and they don’t want it because it had already caused mutual distrust between them. They just felt the herders came to attack them again because of past experience. Equally, some of these Fulanis we can see them moving around with weapons including guns as they move about with their cattle. Once we see them like that, we begin to feel some threats. Why are they moving openly with guns? Because Mangu people didn’t want any attack, they made sure once they see the herders they ask them to leave. But on Monday 18th December, there were a group of people that came into Bokkos territory, the villages. They rustled about 500 cows. They came with heavy guns and even Hilux. As chairman of Youth Peace Network (YPN) and Community Peace Observers (CPO), some of the Fulanis called me and reported the incident that some people came to rustle their cows, they said they directed the herders to move away from the cows and they just packed the cows and started leaving with them. So now, the herders, some of them who had guns, started pursuing the rustlers and shooting guns but they were restricted because they couldn’t get close to the rustlers because the weapons with the rustlers were heavier than those with the Fulanis. Because I was not too far from the scene, I was able to hear the sound of the gun shots as they were calling me on phone. So I just escalated the issue to security agents and I equally called Jos to facilitate early response from the headquarters of Operation Safe Havens. I also called our leaders at the state level (CMMRC) and some senior security officer who assured me they will do something immediately especially by calling the attention of both commanders of OPSH and that of Operation Hakorin Damisa for speedy response. The military intercepted and rescued all but 15 cows that were missing. The rustlers escaped. On the early hours of Sunday, 24 December, at about 12:30am, Kanbar-Pelli village of Bokkos LGA but close to Mangu, was attacked. The herders attacked the village and were able to kill 16 people. All the security agencies we have, Operation Rainbow, Operation Safe Haven, the Police, were all there. They tried their best but before they got there, 16 people were already killed. In the morning, people from Mangu came, and they joined hands with people from Bokkos and started pursuing the attackers away. (any Ruga they see, any Fulani settlement they see, they were just burning them. That is towards the eastern part of Bokkos because Mangu is East of Bokkos. So they were doing this from the east towards the southern side of Bokkos. After that, the Fulanis gathered themselves from some of their strongholds in the western side of Bokkos. Instead of coming to resist, they started to attack the natives of the villages on the western side of Bokkos, they now started their own from the west towards the North while the natives were moving from the east to the south, in a correspondingly opposite direction. If they found any resistance, they diverted to another direction and kept on killing people setting villages ablaze. During the period of this violence, about 28 settlements were directly affected, over 150 people were killed, many injured, more than 10, 000 people have been displaced. While the natives pursuing herders and burning their houses, the herders on the other hand were killing the natives and burning their houses from the other parts of the LGA and thus avoiding direct confrontation between the two belligerent groups.

The bandits, the herdsmen everybody is known to everybody... 

What do you mean?

When I say known, I mean people know that it was Fulani herders that attacked Kanbar-Pelli village and that's known by everyone... 

Yes.

 The security agencies also know them?

They know very well.

How many people have they arrested and why is it that this thing keeps occuring again and again in spite of the fact that they know those responsible?

I just heard that some people were arrested at Butara Company but I have not seen any official report and I will find out first to confirm it because some people were pursued from their homes but they are still hanging somewhere which enables them to see what happens to their homes from their hiding places. In some places where they told me some people have been arrested, they said some Fulanis came after burning houses, trying to push down the structure. But unfortunately for them, security agents arrived and arrested some of them, they said about nine. But I will have to confirm that one first. So you can see that it is not something like Unknown Gunmen or something like that. It is known now.

I ask the question because if something happened last year, two months ago, three months ago, by then, security agencies and everybody would be on the alert to ensure that it didn’t occur again. But that does not seem to be the case here. Why is it like that?

I can say it is the fault of government. I think the government should be blamed first before any other person because after all the signs and early warnings and previous happenings, we discovered that you cannot see security men in the area. You can still go back to those areas, there is no single police, no single military presence there. And the people are still with grievances but you can't see any security there. Inside Bokkos from the day this thing was happening, we were calling security agents and we discovered that in Sector 5, Bokkos, no one soldier was there, no military vehicle. Anyway they claimed they were overwhelmed because the places were too many. I could understand that day because the places the attacks took place were too many. The attacks were going on simultaneously because they were going on in four, five places at the same time. The military strength were being overstretched. I think that is one thing. Government should have employed more security personnel just the way they do during elections when you see security men everywhere. When something like this happens in one local government, just in Bokkos, they should have concentrated more military men in Bokkos or add more. It was yesterday (Sunday, December 31) that we saw more military men and more policemen in Bokkos. But throughout the period, only those we are used to and you can't even see them. In the evenings you can't even see one, only the neighbourhood watch. We have to gather and make sure everybody is in position so that whenever something is happening, we will see and do what we can do because the security agents are not there. We have to do what can do. That’s all.

Self defense?

Yes. Because we communicate with everybody. In this my area where I am, we are mixed - Muslims and Christians. We do our vigilante mixed so that whatever happens, nobody should be held responsible because we know that both of us are here.

So, it is not a Christian-Muslim war?

Um, actually, it is. But there are areas where people understand themselves. We understand that we don’t have any other place to go, both of us. So what do we do. Do we allow people to sell ideas that will lead us into an endless vicious cycle? No. That is why we are cooperating. Even if somebody has something inside his mind, nobody can show it. Thank God I am part of the leadership. We started it in December, 2022. In case anybody has something in mind, that is for him. For us, we are just doing it with all the people that agreed to be part of it.

Former Governor, Jonah Jang, created one local security network. Is it still functioning?

That is Operation Rainbow which is suppose to be the community police of the state. Um, it collapsed during the tenure of Lalong, during the eight years of Lalong because the structures were not fully made. There was no full recruitment. It was like two months ago that this new governor, Governor Muftwang, recruited about 600 personnel from five local governments, especially the flashpoint local governments like Mangu, Bokkos, Basa, Barkin-Ladi and Riyon with the hope that he will recruit more from other local governments subsequently.

The senate sent their representatives, the governor did, the federal government also, through the VP. They have all spoken and left. The IG, I suppose was there at some point... 

Yes.

What are you expecting from their visit and promises? Are you hopeful that their presence and assurances will help the situation you find yourself once and for all?

Um, actually I am not hopeful because I don’t think they understand the situation. When Shettima, the VP was here, even that day he came, somethings were still happening in two villages while he was here in Bokkos. People were still killing each other at Bodel and Ndun. Then, all he had to say was condole with the people and that he will make sure that the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs will come. However, we have not seen the minister. The one we saw was the IG. He came and then promised us that he will give us security, MOPOL which we saw some of them yesterday (Sunday, December, 31) and then Peter Obi came even though he is not holding any political office. He came, donated and promised to tell other partners to donate to the IDP's. So now, actually all those people that came, only Peter Obi said something reasonable and also did something reasonable. The rest of them were just talking as if they came for formality, I don’t know. The hope that people have now is not on security personnel or government, but just on God because the people did not hear any grammar that will help them

What do you want the government to do specifically in terms of security, rehabilitation of affected people, in terms of giving them enough to make them stand on the feet again?

I know that 151 lives were lost already and 28 villages in Bokkos were affected with some two villages in Barkin-Ladi, however, all we want the government to do is to first of all beef up security. Set up security units in all those flash points and then take the people back in their villages because we have like 10,000 displaced persons in Bokkos LGA now. We have 12 officially recognized IDP camps beside those living in uncompleted buildings and other homes belonging to private individuals. For example, in Saint Peters Catholic Church, we have about 1,500 IDPs. I personally went round some of them and the Catechist took their names and told me they are 1,500. There are too many of them. It is not something you can count and confirm. I went CAC DCC Headquarters, ECWA, Malja'u Sunnah Schools, Tambi'u Sunnah Mosque, plenty of IDP's in each of those places. I asked the Fulanis and they confirmed that there are over 400 sleeping in the school in Malja'u Sunnah Schools. In other places, there are plenty of them with over 200 in private homes. Plenty houses are now accommodating people and they don’t have money or food to feed them. I asked somebody who told me that he only ate once since over 24 hours that he came. If government can assist them with food, clothings, rebuild their homes in their different villages and ultimately return them, to their villages with security