276 killed in Plateau crisis — Lawmaker

A member representing Barakin Ladi and Riyom federal constituency of Plateau State, at the House of Representatives, Honourable Istifanus Gyang, has declared that the raging hostilities between the natives Berom and Fulani, has claimed the lives of over 276 persons while 350 escaped death with fatal injuries, from January to-date in the troubled constituency Speaking with newsmen on ongoing efforts to arrest the pathetic situation in the two local government areas, Honourable Gyang said the deaths and injuries resulted from attacks on 38 rural communities within Barkin-Ladi and Riyom councils. He stated that constant acts of violence in Barkin- Ladi and Riyom needed to be tackled by the Federal Government as acts of terrorism and treated as such if the acts were to be effectively curtailed. According to him, the inability of security agents to identify the attackers often referred to ‘unknown gunmen’ was a major failure, adding that the failure needed to be arrested and addressed squarely to stop the act of bestiality eroding the peace synonymous with the two local government areas within the constituencies. “The policy implementing executive arm of the Federal Government should classify the attacks as acts of terrorism and get the Inspector-General of Police to identify and prosecute the attackers.” He also urged the Federal Government to work on the Special Task Force (STF), which was established to tackle the peculiar security challenges in Plateau State, and make it “more decisive and proactive in curtailing the terror attacks and recover occupied territories.” He urged the Federal Government to do a comprehensive security mapping of the whole country and design a security architecture that could safeguard rights of the citizens and arrest any further terror attacks. On the crisis in the National Assembly, Honourable Gyang, who is a PDP member, debunked the notion in certain quarters that, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was behind the upheaval, saying the unfortunate development was the All Progressives Congress (APC) affairs, adding that PDP was just a mediator. The federal lawmaker who acknowledged that the crisis was tarnishing the image of the country, called on the leadership of the APC to put their house in order and imbibe the tenets of democracy and rule of law.