On the reported incident of another fresh attack unleashed last night of 3rd December, 2020, it has been confirmed that 2 natives of Wereng Community in Riyom Local Government Area, Plateau State were the ones attacked by a group of suspected Fulani militias in an ambush laid at a bridge linking the community and Farin Lamba in Vwang (Vom) District of Jos South LGA, resulting to the gruesome murder of one Mr. Pam Mwanvwang, 34 year old and final year student of Sociology Department, University of Jos, who is said to be a beneficiary of Federal Government N-Power program while Mr. Pam Williams escaped with bodily injuries sustained. the incident was ascertained to be factually true upon visit to the said Community where hundreds of mourners gathered not only to console with the family of the deceased, but ro also bid a farewell to the promising youth who had tenaciously aimed at liberating his people from retrogressive state of life long plunged in by the continued armed invasions perpetrated by terror actors.
In an interview, the mother of the deceased, Mrs. Ladi Mwanvwang expressed her shock that, “my human hope has been untimely sent to a world of no return.. he had hoped to become the human savior of not only the house, but the entire Community” ravaged by killer Fulani militias. In heaving up her pains of unannounced separation, she said, “after he took me by his motorcycle to Church where Women Fellowship are having a program, he bid me farewell believing I will go and meet him at home, not knowing it is the last sight of him I had …” in the mother-earth.
In a related reaction by one among the 8 siblings of the deceased, Miss Cathrine Mwanvwang, “my brother was one of the two siblings that passionately got enrolled in school so that our family life and, by extension, community-wise can be better of since our parents are already aged and can’t adequately support us again…. but the story has abruptly changed to bad as our parents’ dreams have become a mirrage right before our eyes.”
From an eye witnessed account, Mr. Pam Williams, the lone survivor with injuries sustained, barge in tears as to how he miraculously find himself alive while his colleague died in the hands of merciless minded killer Fulani, narrated that, …I’m a Borehole engineer and a worshipper with Church of Christ in Nations (COCIN) Wereng. Yesterday, when I was coming back by commercial motorcycle from Vwang Community where I repaired a Borehole, I coincidentally met the deceased at about 6:00pm and he asked me to alight so we could go home together, for he was waiting for one Igbo man to take delivery of a message. After their meeting, I drove his motorcycle while he was on the back seat as we proceeded home at about 7:00pm. Unknown to us, a group of Fulani had already blocked a sloppy end of a bridge linking Wereng and Farin Lamba in an ambush” he said. He added that “being the one driving, I mistaken them to be our Local Vigilante on patrol based on the early warning messages recently in circulation that our villages will be attacked by Fulani militias. But on getting to the end part of the bridge where two bundles of Maize stake were used and blocked the road immediately after the bridge, the motorcycle’s flashlight shone the faces of the attackers whom I saw were Fulani with heavy sticks abruptly emerged from the sides of the road…” and pounced on the unspecting natives leading the deceased fallen off from the motorcycle while the escapee resolutely pressed on despite a serious chase frantically made by the said Fulani until he amazingly escaped to Wereng and informed Local Vigilante who swung into rescue mission, but unfortunately, found Mr. Pam Mwanvwang’s brethless body in pool of blood gushed from his neck that was slain.
Upon reporting, the information about the incident went viral to neighboring Communities including Farin Lamba wherefrom some vigilante advanced to the scene but were also ambushed by another group of the attackers who are believed to have been advancing to invade the Farin Lamba area being one of the target settlements earmarked for terror attacks. Mr. Sam Tengwong, an eye witnessed source who is a member of Local Vigilante in Farin Lamba, said, ” at about 7:30pm when we were informed about the incident, we thought it wise to rush down to the scene for possible intervention locally, not knowing that the attackers had already advanced to rain another terror on the natives of Farin Lamba. Just some metres away from the last house we passed, we heard serious gunfire targeted at us. Imediately, we scampered for our dire lives otherwise we might have had similar fate visited on our brother, Pam, but God Almighty saved us from the vicious action of the Fulani.
In view of the above facts of unwarranted killing and other related actions of the suspected Fulani militias, it behoves on Government to, as a matter of urgency, re-strategize on curbing down activities of militias group so that precious lives of citizens can be guaranteed in terms of safety for a better Nigeria where everyone will believe to have been accorded an enabling environment to soar higher to his or her world of difference.
By:
Dalyop Solomon Mwantiri, Esq.
Emancipation Centre for Crisis Victims in Nigeria-ECCVN
