By Adebayo Animasaun
June 23, 2018, will remain a dreadful day to the people of Plateau State. It was the day gunmen, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, invaded Gashish district communities, dominated by the Berom people, and killed over 200 persons, burnt houses and forced their inhabitants to take shelter at Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP) camps.
In the wake of the killings, Gashish district in Barkin-Ladi Local Government Area, where the highest number of deaths was recorded, has now become a ghost town occupied by cows and herders.
Reminiscing on how the killings started, The Protocol Officer (PRO) of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), Regional Church Council, RCC, Rev. Dyelman Davwar, said Fulani militia, armed with sophisticated weapons and machetes, launched attack in Nghar village while women, children, and the aged were asleep.
Speaking with bitterness, he said the attack started in the afternoon of the previous day at about 3 pm, when mourners returning from the burial of a 90-year-old man who attended their church were ambushed and massacred by the Fulani militia.
Afterwards, the murderous gunmen, according to Davwar, moved into villages and began to set homes ablaze. He recalled that as some of the people rushed out in a bid to escape, they were mercilessly shot dead or cut down with machetes.
Some reports had indicated that the attacks were likely reprisals for cows allegedly stolen by youths from the Berom community in the previous three weeks.
Following the attacks, on Sunday, June 24, angry Berom youths erected barricades on the Jos-Abuja highway and attacked motorists who they believed to be Fulani or Muslims.
In Kakuruk community, one of the affected areas, the COCIN church in Gashish was one of the buildings torched by the assailants. However, in spite of their agony and losses, worshippers of the COCIN continue to meet for fellowship.
On the day TheNewsGuru.com’s correspondent visited the remains of the burnt place of worship, the ceilings were gone and one could see the heavens through the destroyed rooftop. 15 worshippers, undeterred by the destruction and the possibility of another attack, were in attendance.
Their countenances depicted that they were mourning, yet they sang soulfully and danced amid rows of burnt wooden chairs. The crashing noise of their feet on the debris, accompanied by the claps of the hands, provided a sweet rhythm, as all music instruments had also been burnt. Afterwards, the congregants listened to a moving sermon from Rev. Danjuma Bwede.
Pastors on the run, economic activities paralysed – Rev. Bwede
At the end of the church service on Sunday, July 29, Rev. Stephen Danjuma Bwede, Chairman RCC Gashish, COCIN, lamented that so many clergies in the Gashish district were now on the run.
He said the deadly attack had reduced the number of persons who attended church services and paralysed economic activities in the community.
Bwede recalled, “We lost about four Churches; we also lost one clergyman here in RCC (name not mentioned). Until his death, he was our secretary here in RCC Gashish.
“We have some pastors who are not living here; they have already relocated to some places like Hepang and Jos. I also no longer have a home here because my house was burnt down. Even my Reverend does not stay here.”
The chairman lamented, “In fact, we live from hand to mouth because we don’t have any sufficient economic cum social activities here. Our farms and houses have been destroyed.
“Government has promised that a police barrack will be established here. We want government to take proactive measures to fulfill that promise”
Bwede appealed to the government to find measures to quickly resettle the victims, stressing that people were not well cared for at the IDP camps.
Killings politically motivated, targeted at Christian community – Davwar
Rev. Dyelman Davwar, who narrated the ordeal faced by victims on the deadly night, however, said the killings were politically motivated.
Asked why he described the invasion as a religious attack, he replied, “I said the attack also has religious undertone because any time they operated, they never spared churches and their pastorium; they are almost the first target. They killed our pastors who are not even indigenes of Gashish.”
Davwar also alleged that the government at the centre was doing everything to reduce Christian population in order to have more of Muslims, whom they perceive will give them the desired votes come the 2019 general elections.
Davwar said, “Many Christians here in Plateau see the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), as a pro-Islamic party because President Muhammadu Buhari is a Muslim and security operatives under his administration have not been fair to us. They have equally failed us and we see it as deliberate because they have an agenda that is best known to them.”
Davwar thanked God for the survivors. He praised security operatives who conveyed some of the affected families to the IDP camp in Hepang, Barkin Ladi and the Geoscience camp in Anguldi, Jos South, among others. He appealed to the government to ensure that they bring them back to their homes in the villages.
Speaking for the federal government, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo who visited Plateau state few days after the incident disproved the assertion that the killing was politically motivated.
Osinbajo while briefing journalists following a meeting with the warring communities in the state said the crisis is historical.
His words; “A lot of the crises are not a year old or two years old. Many of these crises are almost historical in terms of the number of years that they have continued to manifest themselves. Some have been 10 years ago, some even much earlier.
“It doesn’t matter whether these killings are by herdsmen or villagers or whether it is villagers who in one way or the other have killed others. It is important that we condemn these killings”.
The Vice President, however, assured victims of the unrest that the perpetrators will not go unpunished.
He added, “I think it’s important that there is justice. Those who have been killed cannot just be killed and we allow that to just go by. It’s not acceptable at all. It is our duty to ensure that these individuals are prosecuted and I want to assure you that we will do so. We will make sure that those who have been arrested are duly prosecuted and that others who are engaged in this heinous conduct are also arrested and prosecuted”.