HURIWA restates advocacy for Liberal licences for citizens to bear military grade weapons for self protection .
Prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group:
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the recent escalation in the mass killings of Plateau state natives by suspected armed Fulani bandits just as the Rights group said this latest unprovoked onslaught on innocent farmers in Ryom Plateau state this week paints Nigeria under president Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a Country that has failed in the most important duty of care to the citizens.
HURIWA said President Tinubu should see these incessant attacks on citizens as a direct affront to his competency and capacity to protect the citizens upon whom the law has legislated that their lives and property must be protected by every means just as the Rights group said legally speaking it is the Central government that must carry out the fundamental duty of law enforcement and prevention of mass killings.
HURIWA lamented that it is only in a failed entity that has lost her Sovereignty to all genres of mobsters and terrorists, will the serial killings on massive scales that have occurred intermittently would be tolerated by the Central government just as the Rights group called the distinctively Platea state scenario a deliberate pogrom that at least 27 farmers,
including men and women, have been reportedly killed in a yet a fresh attack by gunmen in Bindi-Jebbu of the Tahoss community in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State.
HURIWA cited information from the villagers as confirming the attack, which occurred on Monday, that also left many people injured, with several rushed to hospitals, including the Jos University Teaching Hospital and Plateau Hospital.
HURIWA quoted the chairman of Riyom LGA, Bature Sati Shuwa, as acknowledging the incident but could not give the casualty figure as of press time, saying he was on his way to the attacked community.
Similarly, security agencies, including Operation Safe Haven and the state police command, have yet to issue any statement on the situation.
The spokespersons of Operation Safe Haven and the state police command, Major Samson Zhakom and DSP Alabo Alfred, respectively, have not responded to the text messages sent to them by the media even as the Rights group in a media statement on Thursday endorsed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko blamed agents of destabilization and anarchy who are totally shocked by the phenomenal developmental and infrastructural revolution going on under the current Governor Caleb Mutfwang-led administration for seeking to stoke up chaos, anarchy and lawlessness to then become their license to advocate for state of emergency declaration.
The good people of Plateau state are definitely behind their hard working and resilient governor from the numerous public opinion polls HURIWA has conducted in the last two years through our members in Plateau state.
HURIWA said the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has done well not to be persuaded by these constant terrorists attacks in Plateau state to unconstitutionally unseat a popular and highly productive governor just as the Rights group has called on the President to direct the military and police chiefs to quickly get to the roots of these constant terror attacks by suspected armed Fulani bandits whose major targets are farming communities with the objective to instigate mass hunger and anarchy in the peace loving state of Plateau known for the multiplicity of tourism attraction areas.
HURIWA said Plateau State natives are some of the most hospitable and friendly people in Nigeria and therefore do not deserve these violent and bloody terrorists attacks unleashed by agents of destabilization and anarchy.
HURIWA said the confirmation by a credible youth leader- the National President of Berom Youth Moulders Association, Dalyop Solomon, that indeed dozens of farmers in his community were killed, played credence to the suspicions by many security experts that the attacks are premeditated and was the work of saboteurs who are unhappy with the growing pace of development in the state.
The Rights group recalled that the aforementioned youth leader confirmed that the gunmen, suspected to be members of the Fulani ethnic group, stormed the community, shooting sporadically and setting several houses ablaze.
“Twenty-seven persons were killed and many were injured. We have taken the bodies to different hospitals before the burial,” he said.
Solomon said all corpses had been deposited at the morgues and a date for their burial would be announced in due course.
In the thinking of most observers just as it is with the leading civil rights organisation HURIWA, this latest attack has once again highlighted the security challenges in Plateau State, where communities have been targeted by armed groups in recent times.
It has also sparked concern and outrage, with many calling for increased security measures to protect the lives and property of citizens. Plateau State Government had last week recruited 150 new agro-rangers as part of efforts to address the security challenge facing the state.
Meanwhile, in a statement later on Tuesday evening by the Secretary General of Berom Youth Moulders-Association, Bature Iliya Adazaram and the National President, Solomon Dalyop, the association condemned the attack, attributing it to armed Fulani groups from Bangai-Fulani, Ganawuri, and other places.
According to the youth group, the attack occurred between 4:00 am and 6:00 am, on Tuesday and was facilitated by the alleged complicity of security agents.
The association expressed disappointment in the reinforcement team’s inaction, despite prior knowledge of the planned attack.
“What happened in Jebu this morning is the usual Fulani crime against humanity, deliberately carried out under the watch of some security agents who are said to have been compromised by colluding with the attackers.
“The BYM, during an on-the-spot assessment at the scene of the attack, eyewitness under anonymity commended the Unit Commander of Operation Safe Haven, stationed at Sopp for their gallantry demonstrated in repelling the attackers from one end, but also registered their loss of confidence in the reinforcement team of the OPSH that came and stationed itself by the roadside, where the massacre was perpetrated even up to 6:00 am.
Whilst advocating clinical security and intelligence led operations to effectively put an end to these attacks,
HURIWA has demanded that if the organised government funded security agencies have consistently failed to protect the people, then the vigilante recently set up by the government of Plateau state should be sufficiently trained, equipped with the sophisticated weapons and motivated well-enough to counter these terrorists disguising as herders to seek the destruction of Plateau state.
HURIWA concluded thus: “Ensuring that lives and property of the good people of Plateau are safeguarded from the violent attacks of armed non-state actors, is the primary constitutional duty of government and this duty to protect and prevent these attacks lie with the office of the President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Comrade EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO,
National Coordinator,
HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). 17th of July 2025.