Plateau lawmaker raises alarm over invasion of constituency by killer herdsmen

A member of House of Representatives, representing Barakin-Ladi/Riyom federal constituency of Plateau State, Hon. Simon Mwadkon has raised the alarm over invasion of his constituency by killer herdsmen who destroy farmlands and kill law-abiding citizens.

The federal lawmaker who stated that the hedsmen are on the prowl added that in one of the recent attacks, a district head was killed, adding that people especially farmers and miners are sceptical of going out for their legitimate businesses.

He said: “There is a high level of destruction of farmlands. In Barakin-Ladi local government area alone farmlands belonging to over 50 families were destroyed and another 70 in Riyom council area. Besides the destruction of farmlands, there are incessant killings that have been going on for the past three months. The latest being the district head of Foron.

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“One cannot explain why the two local government areas are witnessing the unprovoked attack because there’s no single report of the natives attacking any herdsmen. But the problem is that each time aggressors are arrested and handed over to the security agencies, the next day they are back to their respective homes.

“The killings are becoming too many, people are being attacked at mining sites on a daily basis. Which means the security agencies are not doing their jobs.”

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According to him, most of the attacks have to do with land grabbing, alleging that there were several instances where lands and properties were grabbed and named after Fulani persons without recourse to the natives.

He said: “Recently, a community name and school were changed and named after a Fulani person without recourse to the appropriate authority and the natives. We had to follow it up with appropriate authority before it was reversed. What do you call this, is it not land grabbing?”

Hon. Mwadkon implored both the government and security agencies to be more proactive and treat every information from the natives concerning an impending attack on their communities with quick actions.