Plateau community counts losses after gunmen attack
Since Tuesday, November 7, when gunmen attacked and opened fire on residents of Rim community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, killing nine people and injuring several others, the community has been living in fear, while the dead have been buried and the injured have been receiving treatment in hospitals.
The victims were traders returning at about 07:00 from a weekly village market in Makera on that Tuesday night before they were attacked. Condemnation and public outcry have followed the attack, particularly on the need to put an end to such attacks which have been rife in the state lately.
Among the victims were two brothers: one of them was the acting Vice Principal of Government Secondary School, Rim, Sunday Dambwarang, and his younger brother, who was a farmer, Dagang Dambwarang. Sunday had gone to the market to buy some property for the school, while Dagang went to buy doors and windows for his house.
Speaking to Daily Trust on Sunday on their ordeal, the first son of the late Vice Principal, Dawang Sunday, said his father called that he was on his way back from the market and that he was close home before they began hearing gunshots and later confirmed that their father was among the victims.
“My father was an acting vice principal and his school sent him to purchase some property after he closed from school for the day. He bought the property and gave them to someone to deliver to the school the following day while he decided to head home. It was when he was coming back that the incident happened. In fact, we even spoke to him on phone while he was on his way and he told us he was already close to the house. In less than two minutes after we spoke with him, we started hearing gunshots. We decided to call him back but there was no response. We then decided to call those living around where he said he was and they told us what happened and that our father was affected. That same night we went there and got his corpse. Unfortunately, my father was together with his younger brother, Dagang Dambwarang, who was also returning from the market, and he too lost his life in the attack.
Dawang (27) said he was the first child of his father out of a family of seven, and that all of them were students except himself who just graduated from the College of Education, Pankshin.
He explained that his father was not given mass burial along with the other victims because the principal of his school asked them to take him to the mortuary since he was a civil servant.
“I cannot determine the identity of the people who carried out the attack, but according to a driver who survived the attack, he said he saw some herdsmen and some other people in military camouflage. Since the incident happened, there is still no security presence in our area and it is not proper. The only precautionary measure we are taking is to watch our movement, not to go out at night and also not to go out alone.
“Despite all these, however, the attackers still launch attacks on us from the bush even if we don’t go out or go towards their side. The government needs to intervene and put a stop to all of these because the attackers are well armed and we cannot defend ourselves,” Dawang added.
Late Dagang Dambwarang’s wife, Rose Dagang, said she had two daughters: two and four years, and that she would not be able to cater for their education because she was not doing any work.
She said her husband had been buried alongside others but that since then no one from the government had come to visit them or done anything for them.
The mother of one of the survivors, Ladi Samuel Ali, whose son has been receiving treatment in Christian Hospital in Vom, said her son, Rwang Samuel, sustained injuries on his chest and legs.
She said they did not have money to pay for his treatment, noting that apart from the N3,000 the chairman of the local government supported the injured with, they had nothing.
“All the money we have, including the one we were supported with cannot even take care of the treatment alone, talk more of other things. Since my son was admitted, he has not been feeding well. Now I left him in the hospital without any food, and we don’t even know when they are going to discharge him and the others yet.
“Please we are appealing to the government and good spirited people to assist us with the treatment, and more importantly, endeavour to put an end to the attacks,” she said.
The youth representative of Rim Ward, Comrade Damba Dang, said the attacks started since 2001 and that people had continually been attacked in their homes, mostly at night, as well as being ambushed on their way to the market, farm etc.
“So many lives and property have been destroyed by the assailants, just like this one that happened on November 7, 2017, where the attackers ambushed and killed nine and injured three of our dear brothers who were coming back from the market. The prime suspects of this dastardly act are herders.
“The security operatives have not been helping us, and we even accuse them of complicity. This is because despite the heavy presence of the security operatives in our domain, these attacks have continued unabated and no arrest has so far been made.
“This has given the impression that the security operatives have a hand in these attacks. At some point, military kits and ID cards were found at the scenes of the attacks. People in our community now live on perpetual fear of uncertainty.
He urged the government to be proactive on security matters and to stop playing politics with their lives, and that the government should endeavour to provide relief materials to the families of the victims and scholarship to the orphans.
The Plateau State Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Muhammad Nuru, denied that the attack was carried out by herdsmen/Fulani as alleged.
Nuru said the attack was barbaric and condemnable, stressing that from all indications the incident was that of a criminal activity because the traders were returning from the market and the criminals could have suspected that they had money and therefore attacked them.
He said as investigations were on to unravel and bring the culprits to book, MACBAN would support the security agencies in any way it could in that regard.
Meanwhile, police spokesman of Plateau State, Terna Tyopev, who confirmed the incident, said the police were carrying out investigation on the attack in order to apprehend the culprits and bring them to book.
He cautioned members of the community not to take the law into their hands and carry out any reprisal since the identity of the gunmen were yet to be determined.
Similarly, the PRO of the joint task force in the state, Operation Safe Haven, Captain Adam Umar, said the JTF had been trying its best in curtailing series of attacks in the state and beyond.
In his reaction, the Governor of Plateau State, Simon Bako Lalong, said he was deeply saddened by the barbaric attack, saying it was a deliberate attempt to throw Riyom Local Government Area back into the dark days of violence.
In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dan Manjang, Governor Lalong said what was most worrisome was the fact that the inhumane attack was coming at a time that the state had made considerable improvements in building intra and inter ethnic cohesion and sustainable peace among the various ethnic groups in the entire Riyom Local Government Area and the neighbouring communities.
He assured the people of Rim in particular and Plateau citizens in general that government would continue to intensify security efforts and intelligence to identify perpetrators and ensure they were brought to book.
“In this light, therefore, the governor has directed security personnel in the state to fish out the perpetrators without further delay. He is also requesting all peace-loving citizens to stand united in prayer and vigilance, while also ensuring that they volunteer all useful information that will lead to the apprehension and prosecution of these agents of evil and their collaborators. The governor prays for the souls of the faithful departed to rest in perfect peace with God Almighty,” the statement said.