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.
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