Lawmaker Blames Military for Fulani Herdsmen’s Killing

The lawmaker, however, said “the Tusung-Fan killings, again brings to the fore the complicating attitude of the military Special Task Force (STF) headed by the GOC, 3rd Armoured Division, Jos, Major General Saleh Maina.”
Kaze, in a statement said cases of fake soldiers and accounts of some victims of previous attacks that they saw “some killers in army camouflage” severely eroded public confidence in the STF.

“The same STF that failed to protect human lives at Dogo Nahawa and Byei chose to lead a cow-search mission to Tusung without recourse to the police whose primary role it is to handle such cases.
“As if to facilitate its public show, the STF instead of handing over the remains of victims to their families in the village, chose to take them to Jos to hand them over to some religious leaders who easily whipped sentiments, leading to the reprisal killings in Jos.

“Had the STF not detailed their men to escort the herdsmen to Tusung, no killing would have occurred. The blame lies squarely on the head of the STF who must take responsibility for precipitating the Tusung killings and the subsequent reprisals in Jos. Rather than apologies, the STF attempted albeit unsuccessfully to explain their illegality, no other security agency has corroborated them. Just like the culprits, the army officers responsible for detailing soldiers to Tusung for the cow-search should equally face justice”.

Meanwhile, the STF has paraded 8 suspects arrested in connection with the killings
The spokesman of the STF, Lt Col. Kingsley Umoh, who addressed the press in Jos said investigations have revealed that men, women and even children of the village were involved in the killing of the Fulani and the beating up of the military men that accompanied them.

But the paraded suspects speaking to journalists denied strongly that they had hands in the killings, adding that “the military just came to our houses this morning and arrested us without finding anything incriminating against us. It’s as if they want to do this to portray to the public that they are working.”