…Hospital Rejects Victims
From Jude Owuamanam, Managing Editor, Northern Operations
JOS (Sundiata Post) – Residents of Ancha District in Miango village of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State have abandoned their homes after Fulani herdsmen allegedly killed scores of people in a pre-dawn raid.
Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr. Peter Ogunyanwo, has however, confirmed that 19 persons were killed and five others wounded.
Sundiata Post gathered that most of the residents who had fled the area were Fulani pastoralists, who are afraid of a reprisal.
The attack itself was said to be a reprisal after a five-year-old Fulani boy went missing some weeks ago, an incident the herders were said to have vowed to revenge. They therefore bided their time.
Most of the hamlets and tents of the herders were vacant with only water bottles, shoes and some petty household items littered in the surrounding.
The herders are however suspected to be camping near the Rukuba Baracks, few kilometres away from the affected village.
The herders were said to have moved in mass with cattle herds towards the barrack, carrying personal belongings.
The Fulani herders had co-existed with the villagers for long.
The latest attack was reportedly preceded by a misunderstanding that ensured between the neighbouring Fulani and some youths in the village few days earlier.
A Fulani boy was said to have grazed on the natives’ farm which resulted in a fight.
The attackers were said to have shot and slaughtered women and children, as well as a few male adults.
The AK-47-carrying armed herders reportedly tracked their victims to their houses, breaking their doors and butchering them after calling out their names on arrival at each affected house.
Some of the villagers fled through their windows and escaped into the bushes, it was learnt.
A father of three slaughtered kids, Mr. Barry John, said he escaped on the prompting of his wife who couldn’t allow him face the attackers when they were butchering their children outside.
The kids, ages 3-10 had rushed out from their room on the other side of the building on hearing the herders’ gun blasts.
Mr. John’s wife was said to have survived by covering herself with a mattress.
“They came in and did not know I was under the mattress.
“They fired shots in the room after my husband had escaped through the window,” she said.
The attackers took hostage of the village for hours, going house to house and killing everyone in sight including new born babies.
However, the Plateau State Police Command has confirmed 19 persons killed and five others injured in an attack on Ancha village, Bassa Local Government, on Friday.
The police commissioner, Peter Ogunyanwo, who briefed journalists on Friday in Jos, said that preliminary investigation had indicated that the attack was carried out by Fulani gunmen.
“We are investigating the matter, but from our findings so far, the attack was carried out by Fulani herdsmen to avenge the killing of a young boy.
“We have been told that a Fulani boy resident in the village was reported missing on August 3. We are told that his body was later found without the head,” he said.
According to the police commissioner, the attackers invaded the village in the early hours of Friday and unleashed mayhem on innocent citizens, killing 19 persons and injuring five others.
“Of the 19 persons that died, 13 are adults comprising seven males and six females, while six are children.
“The five persons injured have been taken to the hospital and are responding to treatment,” he said.
He said that the attack was believed to be a reprisal because it came three days after the body of the missing Fulani boy was found.
The commissioner said that five suspects were arrested over the missing Fulani boy, but that no arrest had been made in respect of the Friday morning attack.
He said that security personnel had been deployed to the area to forestall another reprisal attack, and cautioned the people against taking the law into their hands.
“We are suspecting Fulanis to have carried out the attack on our village (Ancha) because about a month ago, Fulanis living within this location accused our village (Ancha) of killing and beheading a Fulani boy,” Benjamin Aruku said in a telephone interview.
“They invited police, some persons were arrested in connection with the killing of the said Fulani boy. We thought the issue was over but we were taken by surprise last night with this attack,” he said
Authorities of the Plateau State Specialist Hospital, were said to have rejected the injured as a result of the strike embarked upon by members of the National Association of Resident Doctors.
