There’s a palpable tension in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State as gunmen ambushed three persons, leading to the death of one Amos Elisha.
It was learnt that the three identified as Amos Elisha, Daniel Sati and Stephen Umar were returning from the market at about 7:34 pm on Monday when they were ambushed by gunmen suspected to be killer herdsmen at Nad community of the Local Government Area.
A source close to the community disclosed that the gunmen opened fire on them and killed Elisha on the spot and injured two others adding that immediately after the incident, the gunmen disappeared into a nearby hill.
Director Emancipation Centre for Crisis Victims in Nigeria-ECCVN, Barrister Dalyop Solomon, who confirmed the incident said residents of most communities in Riyom local government area of the state were living in fear as a result of constant attack on the natives by herdsmen.
He narrated that the gunmen have launched full-scale attacks on the communities without any provocation adding that ambush and attacks were often carried out primarily to scare the natives away from their ancestral homes for possible occupation.
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“There’s no justification for all these attacks on the natives, most of the people living in these communities are afraid of going to their farms for fear of attack. They hide under the guise of grazing to attack innocent people with the aim of frustrating them out of their ancestral land.
“Our appeal to the government is that open grazing should be banned, be more proactive and work with the local to fish out the perpetrators and prosecute them accordingly. In most of these communities, land grabbing has become a norm, natives are abandoning their farms and homes for fear of being attacked.
Barrister Dalyop further called on the government and security agencies to work towards recovering all the land grabbed by the herdsmen to enable them to return to their ancestral homes.
However, State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Gabriel Ubah, could not be reached as at the time of filing this report.