Lawmaker representing Plateau North Senatorial District at the Nigerian Senate, Istifanus Gyang has revealed his frustration at the spate of killings in his senatorial district and state.
Gyang, who spoke live on Village Square Africa on News Central TV said he feels “neglected and abandoned” by the Nigerian State as his people have been left to wallow in pain and fear.
Also appearing on the show, the National Publicity Secretary of the Irigwe Development Association, Davidson Malison disclosed that more than 70 people have been killed since Saturday, July 31st up until the 4th of August in various Irigwe, Bassa Local Government communities. He added that more than 2500 houses have been burnt, over 1000 hectares of farmlands destroyed and more than 25,000 people have been displaced from their homes.
In his reaction to the killings, the Member representing Rukuba/Irigwe State constituency at the Plateau State House of Assembly, Musa Agah Ivia said all their appeals to the Plateau State and Nigerian governments have fallen on deaf ears. He said they’ve spoken many times but have never been listened to, as nothing was done to that effect.
Attacks by suspected Fulani militia led to the death of dozens of people in Irigwe communities, where incessant killings have been the order of the day.
Farmer-herder clashes in the communities have seen many fleeing the conflict for neighbouring states like Nasarawa, Kaduna and others, with the problems hardly getting solved.
In 2018, a group of Members of the House of Representatives, led by Istifanus Gyang, who was then at the lower chamber of Nigeria’s National Assembly pushed a motion for the recognition of the killings in the state as a genocide against the people of those communities.
Decades of tribalism-induced clashes have seen Plateau, whose slogan is “Home of Peace and Tourism” turn a shadow of itself, as conflict and unrest reign supreme in the state.