- We track the violence on a daily basis – Para-Mallam
From Jude Dangwam, Jos
The Gideon and Funmi Para-Mallam Peace Foundation in search of peace has described the recent attacks and killings of innocent people in communities of Bokkos local government area of Plateau State as calculative, coordinated and premeditated by the attackers.
The founder Prof. Gideon Para-Mallam said the victims of the attacks needs justice from their government insisting that the IDPs must not live as stranger in their ancestral home land.
He expressed concerned that the level of destructions is massive and urged the Nigerian government to deployed more security for people to go back to their ancestral lands as the only option for peace in the affected areas.
“The attacks in Bokkos villages is very devastating, the lost of human lives, the degrading of human dignity, has been most painful. Sometimes is not okay to talk but to go and see, and in the Para-Mallam Peace Foundation we believe in early warning, early response and early presence.
“So, coming here to witness the destructions of lives and properties has been so devastating. Our Peace Foundation came to make a call for peace to appeal to the people of Bokkos for restraint.
“Is painful, the anger is palpable, is real as we have seen and heard from the women, but peace remains the only solution that can help not only the people of Bokkos but Nigeria. We have also come to see things for ourselves so that we can promote the cry for justice for the people of Bokkos. Our Peace Foundation believes in peace building that is predicated on justice.” He stated
He countered the narrative of Bokkos people killing each other thus, “The useless narratives that Bokkos people are fighting and killing themselves is a complete fallacy and a lie. We are looking for solutions not narratives that will continue to make our communities burnt! Bokkos people are not killing themselves.
“We track the violence on a daily basis, and in the last five days after the swift intervention by the federal government fallowing the directives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu we witnessed various visits by the Vice President, the National Security Adviser, the Chief of Defense Staff, Chief of Defense Intelligence together with the GOC, the IGP and Police Commissioner. And in the last 5 days, most communities there is relatively calm in the villages” Para-Mallam noted
The Peace Foundation earlier donated relief materials to the IDPs camping in 12 different camps noting that the only way to get out of the current realities is for justice to be served to the people of Bokkos by returning them back to their communities for them to repossessed their land and peace will be provided to them.
“They can not live as foreigner in their ancestral home land; from what we saw on ground, I think part of what is happening is calculative, intentional. We can actually see also how some Churches were burnt down, Pastorium were burnt down, pastors were killed. So, you can’t denied the fact that there is a bit of targeting here” He stated
Some stakeholders in the LGA maintain that the provision of adequate security by the federal government of Nigeria will go a long way in enabling survivors of the attacks go back to their respective communities and pick up the pieces of their lives and move on again.
The former Vice Chancellor of Plateau State University (PLASU) Bokkos and Chairman Ron Elders Forum Prof. Stephen Mallo further disclosed that there are flashpoints in those areas attacked which required more deployment of security to further guarantee the returns of the local farmers back to their ancestral homes.
“There are flashpoints in areas where these attacks took place, and out of all the areas visited today “5 January, 2024) you could see for yourselves as journalists. Matele community, Ndun, Ngyong, Yelwan-Nono and Mbar communities there is no any sign of Police or military outpost there.
“So, these flashpoints have not been covered and if the military outpost is not here, there is no how the people will come back. As at five days ago 25 villages were razed down, and we have about 200 people killed, several people injured some still laying in the hospitals nursing their wounds,” he emotionally stated