As the people of Gashish continue to bury the charred, decomposed and mutilated bodies of their loved ones, I can only imagine the anguish, grief and despair.

 

Their lives have basically been changed forever. Things will never be the same -particularly for the children. The sounds of rapid gun-fire…. the pungent smell of AK-47 gun-powder…. the terrifying shouts of fulfude as herdsmen close-in…. the anguish as bullets penetrates flesh…. the smell of fresh blood…. the last gasps of death…. the eerie silence as herdsmen retreat into thin air etc. These greatly traumatic ordeals are now etched indelibly in the psyche of the children and many will not recover.

 

The children will start life afresh: no families, no shelter, no food, no rehabilitation, no trauma counselling and above all, with all the odds of life stacked against them.

 

But of course, this is nothing new, it is an all too familiar story from Bassa, to Riyom, to Mangu, Barkin Ladi, Bokkos, Wase and Langtang.

 

Plateau people have become all too accustomed to these things. It is now something we have come to expect and accept. In fact, I am told there is a new game which originated from Jos metropolis, where friends try to guess the date of the next attack and the winner gets a bottle of beer.

 

My point here is not about the morality of that game, but about the philosophy of it. Perhaps you (my reader) can have a guess too. Go on, play the game: guess the date of the next attack …….next week? Maybe two weeks? – how tragic!

 

But sadly, this is the “new normal”. We have been caught in a cycle of killings that have become all too frequent.

 

 

The cycle is as follows:  

 

Step 1: An attack happens

 

Step 2: Soldiers are quickly drafted to prevent reprisals

 

Step 3: Citizen reporters report on casualty figures and extent of the killings

 

Step 4: We cry and shout on social media (on the rare occasion, we protest)

 

Step 5: Government comes out and disputes the reported figures –saying the number of casualties are far less or calls the killings “clashes”, “skirmishes” or “pockets of violence”. It then finishes it speech with the usual mundane and patronising words of “we condemn the attacks and will bring the perpetuators to..…….blah blah blah blah blah

 

Step 6: We then give the victims an undignified burial in mass. (Government tactically stays away to avoid the media scrutiny).

 

Step 7: Government comes down hard on social media users, accusing them of “talking too much about the killings”, “politicising the killings” or being “conflict merchants” etc.

 

Step 8: Everything quiets down for 1 week

 

Step 9: Repeat steps 1 – 8 (in two weeks time, when the next attack happens)

 

 

Sadly, the above is the depiction of what happens on the Plateau. If not, rationalize why Shonong which has been attacked over 45 times in the last few years, but it is yet to find a tenable solution to its challenges. Rationalize why Dong, Kurra, Rafiki, Bachit, Jol, Sho, Kwi etc which have had uncountable attacks in the last few years, still remain so vulnerable.

 

Anyway, this article is not meant to rant about our failings as a people, rather it is meant to explore certain concepts and thoughts following the killing of over 230 people in Gashish and environs.

 

It is a fact that over 230 were killed in Gashish (the current number stands at over 250, because several previously injured people have died).

 

So how come the police and most media houses have reported that only 86 were killed?

 

1. Was the reported 230 an exaggeration by the Berom Education and Cultural Organisation (BECO) and the Berom Youth Moulders (BYM)?

 

2. Or is the 86 a tacit reduction of the casualties in order to minimise damage and manage public perception and interests?

 

ViewPointNigeria investigates……….

 

 

Our findings

At 3:15pm on Saturday June 23^rd 2018, twenty four hours after the early attacks on Gashish (i.e., this 12 hours after security operatives arrived the attacked communities), 5 truckloads of dead bodies were said to have been loaded into hilux trucks and evacuated towards the Rafiki, Dong axis. These 5 trucks were said to have had two vehicles which escorted them all along.

 

It remains unclear who these merchants of death were, or whose order they were under, but sources within the various communities have suggested that these dead bodies were taken way before the police came in to undertake a body count -which ultimately is why the police reported that only 86 corpse were seen.

 

The assertion from the Gashish community is to the effect that these dead individuals were taken and buried secretly in mass graves around the Dong/Rafiki axis and as such, our reporters are currently working to ascertain the true situation of things in the Dong community.

 

Aside the above, discussions with Government insiders have revealed that our government have been operating a certain  strategy as a means of ending the protracted challenges. These have included paying herdsmen when they report that their cattle were rustled.

 

Preliminary discussions with inside sources have indicated that this compensation scheme has been in place for the past 2.5 years. Every time there is a report of cattle rustling, the purported number of rustled cattle are determined and payment is made at the rate of N200,000 per cattle. So essentially 50 rustled cattle = N10 million.

 

Good intentioned as this might be, we see many pitfalls. Firstly, this is an unsustainable strategy – peace cannot be procured through back-hand payments, rather it comes from justice and equity. But besides that, there is the risk that payments of such magnitude could inevitably be contributory to the current challenges. An AK-47 costs approximately N350,000. As such a  10 million payment can put 30 guns in the hands of these bandits – Think!

 

Bear in mind, farmers are yet to have the same compensation extended to them for the destruction of farmlands, seizure of ancestral lands, burning of houses or destruction of livelihoods.

As part of our investigations, we shall reach out to the commissioner of information to get his views on the above information, which we have gathered.

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New Facts about the Gashish Massacre in Plateau – Dr Chinnan Mclean