NO fewer than nine persons were murdered in their sleep in Maza Village, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State in the early hours of Saturday by suspected Fulanis who invaded the village.
Sunday Tribune learnt that the assailants, armed with guns, cutlasses, bows and arrows, sneaked into the village, some eight kilometers from the state capital, around 1:00 am and descended on the people.
In the attack, a pastor of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), Reverend Nuhu Dawat, lost his wife and two children while his church was also burnt.
Reverend Dawat said he heard a knock on his door around 1.00a.m but found nobody at the door when he opened it, adding that immediately he locked the door, sporadic gunshots rend the air and he bolted through the back door to hide in a nearby farm.
“I watched as the people broke into houses, running after those who escaped. After they left, I returned to my house only to find my wife, two children and a grandson, hacked to death,” he narrated.
Gaya Suna, who also lost a daughter, said he was able to escape into the nearby bush, but his only daughter was caught while sleeping.
The District Head of the Area, Mr. Abamu Kaiwa, said that security men were contacted while the raid was going on, but they could not get to the scene on time because of the bad road leading to the village.
He told Sunday Tribune that those who sustained injuries in the attack were currently recuperating at the Jos University Teaching Hospital.
Sunday Tribune’s findings revealed that the youth in the village were still combing bushes to recover more bodies as some villagers were reported missing.
A government official, who was at the scene of the incident, Mr. Gyang Pwarjok, said the cause of the incident was still shrouded in mystery as the affected villagers had been living in peace with their neighbours without any problem.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), quoted the spokesman for the Military Special Task Force (STF) charged with maintaining peace in Jos, Lt.-Col. Kingsley Umoh, to have said that “we are just coming out of the village. It is a difficult terrain really. There isn’t much to say. This incident is just sad.”
“The attack is nothing unusual, it is just another attempt to destroy the peace Plateau people have been enjoying in the past months,” the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Gregory Yenlong, said.
“It is an embarrassing situation. Just when we thought we had found peace, we suddenly have to cope with another ugly situation,” he added.
The Commissioner, who appealed to the people to remain calm, and not to take the law into their hands, called for more vigilance from the STF to prevent a recurrence.