AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
At least 14 people, including women and children, were killed on Thursday evening in an ambush near Chirang village in Mangor District, Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The victims were reportedly returning from the weekly market in Bokkos town when their vehicle was attacked by suspected armed herders, identified by community leaders as Fulani militants.
The Bokkos Cultural Development Forum (BCDF) Vanguard condemned the incident, describing it as part of a disturbing pattern of violence aimed at displacing native communities in central Plateau.
“This is yet another painful reminder of a sustained campaign to take over ancestral lands,” said BCDF Chairman, Farmasum Fuddang, in a statement on Friday.
The group noted that the ambush occurred just two days after a young man was killed in the same area, bringing the death toll in the region to nearly 100 over the past two years. This figure includes over 60 people killed in a mass attack on Christmas Eve in 2023.
“Residents have reported sightings of large numbers of armed terrorists advancing toward affected villages,” the BCDF stated, adding that the military had confirmed an exchange of gunfire with the attackers at the time of filing this report.
Despite the mounting death toll and community alarm, residents lamented what they described as official silence and inaction. Attempts to reach the Plateau State Police Public Relations Officer and the State Commissioner for Information were unsuccessful, while military authorities declined to comment.
The BCDF alleged that the killings are part of a larger, orchestrated effort to take over Bokkos LGA—known as the “potato headquarters” of Nigeria. The group claimed that more than 150 native villages across central and northern Plateau have already been forcefully occupied in similar fashion.
“This is not a random conflict,” the group stated. “It is a calculated campaign of ethnic cleansing disguised as communal clashes, and it is being met with troubling silence from authorities.”
The forum further expressed concern that the violence persists despite ongoing peace initiatives in the area, warning that continued government inaction may embolden the perpetrators.
