Demonstrators set fire to the residence of the District Head of Bokkos Saf Adanchin on Friday, protesting what they deemed arbitrary arrests in the aftermath of recent killings in the Plateau community.
Their actions were a manifestation of discontent with the apprehension of certain community members linked to the assaults in the area.
The demonstrators, predominantly composed of young people and women, extended their protest to the Joint Security Task Force Operation Safe Haven base and the Divisional Police Office in the Bokkos Local Government Area community to voice their dissatisfaction with the situation.
However, the protests escalated into violence as they advanced to the district head’s palace, overpowering security personnel and setting the building, along with vehicles parked within the premises, on fire.
At the time of releasing this information, law enforcement authorities in the state have not yet provided a statement on the issue. However, they had previously confirmed the apprehension of eight individuals linked to the Christmas Eve assaults in the region.
Expressing their grievances, the Bokkos Progressive Youths have accused security forces of partiality since the incidents on Christmas Eve in Bokkos. In a statement, the president, Luka Tulladem, conveyed, “With a heavy heart, we address you regarding the ongoing infringement of human rights by the military deployed to thwart the attacks that commenced on December 23, 2023, in the Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria.”
Following the tragic incident, we have observed a continuous pattern of arrests, detentions, and brutal treatment of survivors who managed to escape the terror inflicted by the assailants. In many instances, these survivors have endured incapacitation and gunshot wounds from the very military forces entrusted with their protection.
Condemnations Follow Attacks
The protest marks the latest response to the simultaneous assaults on communities in the Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi local government areas of the North-Central State, resulting in the loss of over 200 lives and the destruction of hundreds of homes and farmlands.
The Christmas Eve attack garnered condemnation both locally and globally. President Bola Tinubu has ordered an investigation into the incidents, while Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang has called for unified efforts to identify and apprehend those responsible for these atrocious acts.
But during the visit, Shettima appealed to the residents to “resist the temptation to succumb to sectional divisions or the poisonous rhetoric of hatred towards your fellow citizens, as we pursue justice to ensure your security”.
Pope Francis also called for prayers for the victims of the violence.
“Let us pray together for the victims of the severe violence in Nigeria’s Plateau State. May God free Nigeria from these horrors!” the Catholic pontiff said.
In his reaction to the recent attack on Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto Matthew Hassan-Kukah said the repeated and unending killings on the Plateau is beyond herder-farmer clashes, adding that the murderers “want their own kind of Nigeria according to their ideology”.
The cleric charged the government to resist the agenda of the marauders and protect Nigerians.
Kukah labelled the marauders as “sons of Satan” who “opted to extinguish and snatch the light of the joy of Christmas from thousands of people on the Plateau”.
“There is a method to this madness. “The choice of location, communities, timing, and seeming hooded identities of the killers mask a fact: we may not know who they are, but someone wants something from the Middle Belt. Stretch your imagination from the emergence of the modern Nigerian state and connect the dots,” Kukah said in a statement.
