The 13 victims of the January 9 attack in Kulben village of Mangu council area of Plateau State have been given mass burial in the village amidst crying and wailing by the villagers.
Members of the village said they never envisaged that some members of the village will be committed to mother earth so early in the New Year.
Meanwhile, member representing Mangu/Bokkos Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Solomon Maren, who condemned the attack said his constituency was under siege by suspected armed bandits.
He said that the last Wednesday attack which claimed 13 lives of members of his constituency was not the first attempt but one of several.
Maren who made this known in a statement signed by his media aide Isah Adamu indicated that the Wednesday attack came barely 24 hours after the security agencies foiled a planned attack.
The statement read: “Hon Maren condemned in strong terms the gruesome murder of 13 innocent and harmless youths by gunmen who invaded peaceful Kulben village in Kombun District of Mangu LGA in the early hours of Thursday, January 9, 2020.
“The attack which came barely 24hrs after security personnel foiled a similar attack in neighboring Kon Village of Kerang Ward on Wednesday, is “evil, barbaric and ungodly.
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“My heart is torn to shreds and I feel the pain of these poor families. We will do everything humanly possible to ensure that any person or group of people found culpable in this attack is decisively dealt with. They will not be allowed to go unpunished. They shall face the full wrath of the law.”
Meanwhile, a chieftain of People Democratic Party [PDP] in Plateau State and former federal law maker Hon Bitrus Kaze called on the federal government to ensure suspect arrested in such killing should be prosecuted.
Kaze said, “This is to sympathize with affected families in Kombun District, the people of Mangu council area and indeed government and people of Plateau State over the mass killings in the Kulben community by suspected herdsmen.
“Gov. Lalong’s prompt visit to the affected community is commendable; however government’s response to these intractable mass murders must go beyond image-laundering public statements and spur-of-the-moment visits.
“From the killing fields in Barkin Ladi, Bokkos, Bassa and now Mangu council area (to mention a few), the continued destruction of lives and properties stands the rhetoric on its head that government’s appointments account for peace on the Plateau. Government needs to discern that ultimate goal of our traducers is our ancestral heritage not just these arm-twisted appointments that explain only the peace of the graveyard on the Plateau.
“The security agencies particularly the STF deserve be commended for making arrests, however we hope that the suspects will not be transferred to Abuja (as usual) on their way to the de-radicalization camps of this administration. Plateau has lost confidence given Gen Buhari’s obvious failure to reverse the annihilation of our people. The Federal Government is quick to point to convictions on selected cases in the EFCC but no terrorists have been successfully prosecuted under this administration.
“Coming on the day Operation Amotekun (the home bred security outfit) was launched in Abeokuta by governors from the South West, Gov. Lalong should take a cue and consolidate on the Operation Rainbow by domesticating it further in both content and context. The time is now for the government and people of Plateau state to design our own means of survival, nobody else understands our plight better” he said.
Source: The Nation