Photo credit: Sun News
The
story has been told of the stark resilience of persons who have been
displaced from their homes by the rampaging Fulani herdsmen.
“It’s better to face death than run away and allow Fulani herdsmen to conquer our land for grazing.”
This is the sentiment resonating across the 17 Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) camps, spread across Barkin-Ladi, Riyom and Jos South
local government areas, where scores of survivors of the armed herders
butchery have resolved to take the perilous option of going back to
their abandoned homes following news of a growing pattern of herdsmen
settling down in their communities after staging wipe-out attacks. One
of such massacres claimed at least 230 lives on Saturday, June 23, 2018.
Spearheading the “return home” resolution are aged folks from rural
communities in Barkin-Ladi and Riyom Local Government Areas. The men
and women, speaking with Saturday Sun express their resolve to take
their fate into their hands as a last-gasp effort to reclaim their land
which they alleged is being systematically occupied by the Fulani who
dislodged them with violence.
They have resolved to return to their respective villages on or before today, Saturday, July 14, 2018.
A brigade of old-and-ready-to-die refugees
Pa Bulus Pam, an 82-year-old resident of Ngnar village of Gashish
District, Barkin-Ladi Local Government is currently a refugee at Riyom
Com- munity Hall IDP camp. The octogenarian survived the bloody
bloodshed unscathed, but at a great cost, losing nine members of his
family, including his wife, son and two grandchildren, in a killing
spree that claimed 72 lives. Ngnar village was completely razed to the
ground by the marauders.
Following the death of a fellow villager, Dachollom Bature, 70,
last weekend at the Riyom Mini Depot camp, Pam came out of his inertia.
Now he is resolved to return to his ancestral home, ready to be martyred
protecting his village from forceful occupation.
“I know the mission of the herdsmen, some of them are troublemakers,” he says, “They
caused trouble by killing people in a terrified manner to create fear
so that the villagers can run away and leave the land for them.”
He tells Saturday Sun: “I will not yield to their threat, I
prefer to die in my village than live as a slave elsewhere.” He adds:
“Now that people have run away from the village, they have the whole day
to graze directly into our farmlands and destroy the crops. I have been
informed that cows and the goats now graze on the farm without
restriction, that is why I am determined to return home now and face
death.”
After surviving a deadly raid with a colossal loss that includes
three family members, home and property, Sunday Malang, 68, is
infuriated at the news that his crops have become livestock feed as
cattle graze without restriction across the farmlands in Kuzun village.
Though traumatised by the bloodbath of Sunday, June 24, Malang vows to
return home this weekend to contend with the herdsmen.
“Staying in the camp is like being in a prison. I don’t have
the freedom to do anything, and that includes even food and a place to
sleep. I have made up my mind to go home this Saturday. It is better to
die defending my ancestral home than become a permanent slave in the
camp while herdsmen walked freely in my village.”
Mrs Kazaura Danjuma echoes the same sentiment. Danjuma, 69, from
Shonong village is presently a refugee at the Geo-Sciences IDPs camp.
She also prefers to go home and die honourably than becoming a perpetual
beggar in the camp. “I am not any better than my relations who were
killed. Seeing women and children clustered in the camp gives me
concern. If we all remain here, the Fulani will take over our villages.
There are places in Shonong II that no natives can go there today. The
Fulani are cultivating the land. Some have even built there without
permission. We will not allow that to happen. We will go back and occupy
our lands.”
Mahand Badung, 80, had stubbornly refused to leave his homeland
when others were running for their lives, not until he came close to
being bludgeoned to death and had to escape by lying on the ground and
pretended to be dead.
He is still haunted by the memory of the harrowing experience. “The Fulani packed out our foodstuff and other valuable items in the village and set the houses on fire,” he reminisces.
A few weeks later, he is emboldened by anger to go back and confront the dangerous invaders. “Presently,
we have been told that cows are grazing in our farms. I have made up my
mind to go home this Friday. Some of my colleagues have agreed to go
back to the village. We cannot remain in the IDPs camp while some people
are gradually taking over our villages and farms. It is better we face
them and be killed than run away and leave our lands to them.”
As for Pa Andrew Kwong, 91, the horror he witnessed was not enough
to deter him from going back home. Kwong, from Bachit District of
Shonong, affirms: “I am convinced that if we do not go home, they
will take over our land and retrieving it back will be another battle
because that was the essence of the killings. They want to take over our
land for grazing but we will resist that.”
He had witnessed the killing of eight members of the village. “It
was on Saturday while we were in Palang village that we were informed
about what happened in Shonong but the attack spread to the village on
Sunday. We all ran and escaped, but four of our boys were killed by the
Fulani on their way to Kaduna State. When we fled the village, they
removed our property and destroyed the houses and we couldn’t return
because there was no roof over our heads.”
Eight villagers were killed with two burnt inside a room beyond
recognition, the corpses still unburied, lying in the mortuary of Jos
University Teaching Hospital (JUTH).
Yet, Kwong is rearing to go back home. “I am not happy in the IDP
camp. It was not my wish to be here. I prefer being in my village were I
was born. We are going back home on Saturday to protect our land,” he
insists.
Sorrowful recounts
A farmer, Iliya Gwap, 57, gave Saturday Sun the most vivid account
of the unimaginable killings that uprooted them from their native
homelands.
His words: “We were in a church for the burial of an elderly
man when the news came that a woman had been killed at Gindi-Akwati and
another, a relative of the deceased, attacked and killed at Kura Falls.
“We hurriedly carried out the corpse from the church to the
grave site and buried it. As we were returning home, we noticed that
Fulanis were evacuating their children and women using motorcycles to a
safe place, while those who have returned changed their clothes to
black.
“I noticed this because we live almost in the same village and
we were very close with them. Suddenly, I saw a group of Fulani
numbering 30 persons gathered in one house. A few minutes later, I saw a
different group of 27 going into a different house all dressed in black
cloth. I immediately alerted the security operatives about the
convergence and we were advised to be on alert and to also inform
neighbouring villages about the gathering, which we did. We asked the
five police officers on the ground to assist us by requesting for more
military officers.
“Seven military men came in a vehicle and the police explained
to them about the gathering of the Fulani. The military men came from
their vehicle and walked around without going close to the Fulani
gathering and a few minutes later boarded their vehicle and left for
Kakuru. “When the Fulani noticed that the military had gone, seven of
them came out with weapons and started shooting. We ran to the five
policemen who told us their weapon was no match for the Fulani’s and
that they too were running for their lives. We followed them and later
met the military officers along the way who told us that Kakuru is also
not safe and that houses were seen burning in the community. They took
us to Kura Falls where the military was camped.
“We slept at the military camp that night. The following
morning, we started searching for those that were missing. Some people
were killed and the entire village burnt down. We joined the vehicle
conveying the corpses to the mortuary and made it to the IDPs Camp.”
He concludes his narration in an emotion-laden voice: “I went
to the village after the attack. There was no house standing. They set
the entire buildings on fire. Our properties were not spared. They took
away some of the properties and burnt the houses. My goat was also taken
away.” A further account by Sunday Vogam, 82, expanded the big picture:
“The herdsmen invaded our community at about 2 am on Sunday with heavy
shooting, unfortunately, they killed 8 persons and six corpses were
later recovered while 10 houses were burnt.
“I wanted to run for safety but I realized that they will
overrun me and I decided to hide myself close to my house. When they
came, they couldn’t see me but move straight to my house and remove all
my property and set them on fire.
“I watched them killed two persons and set most of the houses
on fire. I couldn’t intervene because I had nothing to defend myself.
After that, I ran to where the military was stationed in the village but
none of them was on the ground.
“Women and children jumped through the windows that night to
survive. It was only God that help some of them. The children and some
of us slept inside water that night until good Samaritans from other
villages came to rescue us. “The women trekked with children for more
than six kilometres to Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State. I
joined a military vehicle that came to convey corpses to the mortuary to
the IDPs camp.”
Cry for help
In the meantime, the Berom ethnic nationality of Plateau State has
decried the deplorable condition at the various Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) camps.
The camps, harbouring over 38, 000 people, are located across five
local government areas in the state. A joint statement signed by
executives of Berom Educational and Cultural Organization (BECO), Berom
Women Development Association, (BEWDA), and Youth Moulders Association,
describes the condition of IDPs in the camps as pitiable and
dehumanizing.
“The camps lack basic facilities and services such as toilets,
water, beds, medical care, food, sanitation and are poorly managed and
insecure currently. Most of the camps are overcrowded thereby making
victims of gruesome attacks vulnerable to the outbreak of diseases,” reads
the statement. The group expressed worry that most children at the
camps had missed their examination and do not know when to return to
school.
They also urged National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and
State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) to provide more facilities and
increase supplies to the camps, while appealing to faith-based
organizations, international charity organizations, and the United
Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) to come to the rescue of the
displaced persons.
***
Via Sun News
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