Retaliation is Likely in Bokkos If...

Plateau has since descended from the go-to tourism destination hub it was known for into the centre of mass murder unknown in the history of North Central Nigeria.

And Bokkos, the epicenter, is competing for honours as the nation's number one horror spot where alleged Fulani Herdsmen are experimenting the worst of man's inhumanity to fellow man.

In this interview with Ernest Omoarelojie, a youth aactivist and leader of the Youth Peace Network, YPN, gives insights into the incident of March and and subsequent ones, leading to the murder of over 60 native farmers. 

He warns that more gruesome killings may still occur if government fails to do the needful. 

FN: Give us a sense of what has been happening in Bokkos in the last few weeks. 

The thing started on the 27th of March 2025. Since the attack on the 24 of December 2023, there has been pockets of attacks here and there and Bokkos has never been the same since then. It is either isolated killings, communal attacks, or kidnapping here and there, even cattle rustling.

But along the line, the people of Mangu were able to fight off the Fulanis, that is the farmers fighting with the herders. Now many of the herders left Mangu and came to settle in Bokkos communities. Now if they move with their cows to some locations near Mangu, they don’t find it easy because they are not in good terms with Mangu people. Now the grazing space has become too small for both the farmers and the herders in Bokkos.

So it has become the source of crisis between the farmers in Bokkos and herders because the herders want the land to graze and the farmers want to farm their land. So it is either deliberate grazing on crops or one thing or the other, kidnapping here and there, most of the kidnappings are done by the Fulani herders.

On the 27th of March, some herders went to RUWI and were able to kill 11 natives mostly women who were mourning the death of their loved ones. They were killed in the night. So after that one, on the 2nd of April, another attack was meted against some villages in Bokkos.

It started from Tamisu, Tuje, Nghabok, Wayah and they went to Kambang and then moved to Malul, later Taddai and Manguna and then lastly Hurti where the mass burial of 31 people took place on the 3rd of April. That is besides others who were killed in other villages, one here, another there. More than 100 houses were set ablaze and after the mass burial, some corpses were discovered in the bush and some in some houses burnt to ashes.

The death toll is about 60. After that one, the Chief of Army Staff came to Bokkos and the people now requested that they need more security especially because the displaced persons in those far places were now coming to Bokkos but the chief of Hurti directed them to stay back in their village because it is farming season, they need to stay at home and cultivate their farms.

For that they need security, that even though most of their houses were burnt down, they still need to stay there because by displacing themselves, that means they are not going to farm. That if they leave their homes, there is the likelihood that the herders would continue to use their lands and that is how they will continue being afraid and can’t come back again.

So the chief said they have to come back, only that government has to bring security to the place if they consider them as good citizens Nigerians.

FN: You said these things were happening in bits, not too many in recent times until this one in March. Why is it that there was no security presence, either the army or police?

The first day that the thing happened, one pastor from one village in Manguna district was kidnapped and thrown into a mining pond around Mangor on the 2nd of April some passers-by heard him crying for help, and went there and took him out.

As they were going with him on a bike, they were attacked. One of them was killed. From there, there were shooting everywhere forcing the people of Tamisu to leave their homes, run for their lives, and neighbouring settlements like Tuje, Wayah and Nghabok, ran for their lives.

After that, they went to Kambang, set one house ablaze. Then security came and chased them. From there they moved from one settlement to another with security pursuing them from one place to another. They killed people, burnt houses and displaced many but before security personnel would get to the areas, they would move to another.

FN: Is it that the killers don’t shave a permanent location or that they are not known?

Eye witnesses say they saw Fulanis within their neighborhood, however, Josho village under Daffo district has been alleged of having terrorist herders perpetrating such evil act. The villagers said they saw Fulanis who they know, some of them from Manguna.

Manguna is a district where this Hurti is located; Ruwi is under Bokkos district, and Josho is under Daffo district. All the villages belong to different districts. So now, the people from Hurti and Josho are close to each other but from different districts. Sometimes you get information that these things are about to happen.

FN: If you have that information, it would also mean that security personnel would also have it. How come that these killings continue to happen and nothing has stopped it from happening? 

Actually, early warnings were given. Even this last one, there were some early warning signs that something might happen but the security didn’t know exactly where because there was no specific information on where it would happen.

Even those villages that were mentioned, it was only Ruwi and Madaka that it happened. The first one on the 27th happened at Ruwi. The problem is that there was no specific information on where they would strike. That was the problem.

The security people tried their best. Even though some arrests have been made, we are trying to see if those people who have been arrested are really the perpetrators. If they are, we want to see how they will be brought to book. We don’t want a situation where somebody who commits a crime is released unpunished. That would make them to continue committing the same crime.

However, if investigatigations happen to be in their favour and they are proven innocent and they are released, why not?

FN: In your own opinion, what do you think has to be done to stop these killings?

I want to go by what the DG of the DSS who suggested that if the conventional security cannot man all those areas, then permission should be given to members of local vigilante groups to carry some arms for protecting their own communities as first line of defence.

Let the local vigilantes be empowered so that they can protect their communities before the arrival of the conventional securities. But let them never be found with the arms in another community other than their own.

Let them stay in their different communities so that no one will come and take them unaware as the attackers do so because they know that the conventional security are far.

The attackers know that accessibility is a challenge because there are no phone networks and the roads are difficult. That is why to call the attention of the security is not easy for the natives until the deed is done.

So, if the local vigilantes are given arms to protect the communities, the situation will not be as it is at the moment.

Stakeholders must also be trained on how to identify early warnings and send reports to appropriate authorities too.

FN: At the moment, what are the fears of he natives, what is their mood like and how are they faring?

The people, especially the youths are saying they can’t take it anymore. They can’t be tolerating these things. They are saying they have been tolerating it not because they are afraid of anybody but because they are trying to be law abiding. They can’t tolerate any of the faction of the communities breaking the law all the time.

The women are asking why it is that only the natives are being always asked sorry, execercise patience, your people are being killed. They are asking, when will be a day people will go to the other side to do the same.

That is what some speakers said on the day the DIG came. That is what they are saying, that they can’t keep tolerating these things.

FN: So is there any fear that there might be retaliation?

There is not any fear of that. But they are saying that if such things happen again, they don’t know if they can contain themselves without retaliating.

FN: What is your hope for the future?

What I am seeing is that unless (adequate) security measures are put in place, there is the likelihood that these things may continue. And if it continues, I don’t know how we can control the youths.

My hope is that government should stand up and do the needful to improve security, stand for justice so that when something happens, let the natives see that those who perpetrate them are arrested because they say they know some of them and can identify them, they can call their names.

So, when these things happen, let the perpetrators be brought to book. If the people see that justice is taking its course, nobody will take the law into his hand. But if things continue like this, some people operating with impunity as if they are above the law, the natives will definitely not continue to take it.

FN: That is what they are saying actually. The natives have lost so much. Is there any help coming coming their way?

They need food to eat, shelter because their houses have been burnt. As I talk to you, there are about 6,000 IDPs. Some, like 2,000,are inside Bokkos town and then we went to Daffo town like two days ago.

We recorded about 800 there but we were not able to access Hurti because we were advised we didn’t have security cover. The people told us we cannot access the place because the place is very volatile for now. Even the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, together with the chairman of Bokkos local government area were moving , with the police to Hurti, they were ambushed.the day they went there.

So if the SSG and will be ambushed together with the police and chairman of Bokkos local government area, they now say we can’t go there without proper security. That is why we couldn’t go there to see the IDPs in the place, however someone stakeholders who came from Hurti said there are about 3000-4000 IDPs.

FN: What is your advise and suggestion about how to dowse ongoing tension?

My advise is that government, spirited individuals, including NGOs, should come and assist these people because they desperately need food to eat, where to sleep and also to continue their daily activities. I equally suggest that government should send more security to those places so that the people will have the hope that government can protect them