Killings In Plateau Caused By Land Grabbers, Illegal Miners – Bagos

A former member of the Plateau State House of Representatives representing Jos South/Jos east, Dachung Musa Bagos, has claimed that the killings in Plateau State are prompted by land grabbers who use these communities for illegal mining and agricultural purposes.

He insisted that there is no issue of ethnic, religious, or farmer/herder clash in the state.

Bago asserted that false narratives have for many years, been put on the table to explain the killings in the state.

The former lawmaker stated this in an interview with Arise Television on Friday.

He noted that over 60 communities have been wiped out from the Plateau since 2001.

The former lawmaker said, “What is happening is pure genocide, land grabbing. People come into communities, kill, chase these people and occupy their lands. And it’s not just a mere statement, the facts and proofs are there, since 2001, over 60 communities had been wiped out on the Plateau.

“The first thing that we have identified is that the wrong narratives have been given to the killings on the Plateau- farmers/herders, it is not so. Religious, it is not so, but people bring in the element of religion into these killings so that they’ll be able to do what they need.

“The major purpose that we identified, and if you look at the chronology of all the villages that have been wiped out on the Plateau, each and every one of them has one or two economic potentials on the Plateau.

“All the communities that have been wiped out on the Plateau, all of them today, go back to those communities, you will see that some people are mining in those communities that you cannot even access those communities.

“Go to some of these communities, you will see that these communities are highly vegetational that you can farm there, you can rear cows there, they have streams. So, all these communities are for a certain target.”