Mass Graves of Victims of Herdsmen Attacks Collapse in Plateau

 

Graves of over 200 persons killed in last year’s herdsmen attacks in Gashish district of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State have collapsed.

Chairman of Gashish Development Association, Mr. Francis Chong, disclosed that “the top soil covering the graves has ‘sunk’ inwards, bringing back disturbing memories of the attacks.”

He said: “These graves tearing open are a sad reminder of the traumatising experiences the people of Gashish suffered in the hands of Fulani herdsmen last year. Now, over 2,000 children cannot go to school because their parents were killed.”

Chong was narrating the sad experience during a church service in Jos in honour of the slain victims of the attack to mark one year memorial.

He urged the government to rebuild the broken graves and provide security for thousands of displaced persons to return to their homes.

Over 200 persons were reportedly killed in the June 2018 attacks that started in Gashish district of Barkin Ladi LGA, spreading to Ropp, and Shonong districts of the council area.

The association had disclosed that in Gashish alone, a total of 188 persons, mainly women and children, were massacred as well as in Shonong and Ropp districts.

Corpses of the slain victims of the violence were largely buried in a hurry by fleeing survivors of the attacks, and so were not properly done.

Government authorities had objected to a state burial to save excessive outpour of emotions that could degenerate to reprisal.

Also speaking at the event, the senator representing Plateau North in National Assembly, Istifanus Gyang, called on the federal government to ensure that those illegally occupying homes of the displaced attack victims are vacated to allow the ‘rightful’ owners of the communities to return to their homes in line with the federal government’s resettlement plan.

He said justice and peace cannot be achieved without ‘restitution’, adding that “no person should be allowed to displace another and takeover his land. It is like retaining the proceeds of crime.”

The senator said the displaced villagers currently taking shelter in IDP camps and other locations outside their homes are in ‘dislocation’.

Gyang pledged to follow-up on the Nigerian Government promise to set up a Police base in the attacked community to forestall a repeat of the incident.