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Recall Saturday, June, 23; 2018; 15 Berom communities came under heavy attack by suspected killer herdsmen, leaving on its trail over 200 deaths and a colossal humanitarian and environmental crisis.
Then followed several misleading reports on the incident – the Nigeria police and community leaders gave different figures on the death toll; illustrative photos used by several media organisations, bloggers to depict the crisis were mostly false.
In fact, a front line online news site had to sack one of its staffers over a false story credited to Miyetti Allah on the mayhem in Plateau.
Amid the several misleading reports on the mass murder, which further heightened the tension in the country, Plateau State Governor, Solomon Lalong also imposed a dusk to dawn curfew in the affected local government council to avert further bloodshed while the federal government had to scale up military presence in the “war zone”.
Stories that came from the area were scaring. For one, the zone had become highly militarised and at the same time deserted by the inhabitants who could not be sure what next would happen. Fear was visible.
Despite the precarious situation, TheNewsGuru’s youthful Adebayo Animasaun, would not be deterred by the several gory tales from ‘Gashish’. Armed with a good knowledge of the terrain, having had an NYSC tenure there, he left his comfort zone in Lagos for the troubled Plateau, with the mission to thoroughly investigate some of the reports on the gruesome killings, especially as regards thoughts of victims; gathering precise visual footage of the incident; evaluating the overall impact the mayhem had on the people and also reflect on the steps taken by the state government in managing the crisis. And ye, tell how the legendary temperate Plateau has become volatile.
After spending seven days [23rd-30th July, 2018] as an undercover reporter in one of the deadliest zones, Gashish District in Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area, Animasaun was able to chronicle the footprints of untold tales of the bloodbath in Plateau. It was in Gashish, that the highest death record was taken during the herdsmen attack on the 23rd and 24th of June, 2018.
During his stay, he found and interacted with the victims to assess their loss; spent hours in different Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs camps, to evaluate government’s intervention and also visited some of the perilous villages – burnt buildings of what used to be homes to many affected families. He also engaged some of the clergymen in the community, who revealed to TNG that the economic activities have been paralysed.
What TheNewsGuru, TNG, has packaged here is a compendium for the government, NGOs, other international organisations; aid workers and the globally concerned audience on the killings and crisis in Plateau.
The reports will be published on TNG website, www.thenewsguru.com in five series between Sunday, 13th through Friday 15th, 2018.