Men of the Plateau State Police Command on Tuesday foiled a reprisal attack on Rukuba community in Bassa Local Government Area of the state by their Irigwe neigbours, over alleged killing of an elderly Rukuba woman and 10 others by suspected gunmen from Irigwe.
The incident was said to have exacerbated the communal rift between the two communities over land which started since 5th May 2014.

Spokesman of the command, DSP Emmanuel Abuh, told our correspondent in an interview that the police promptly responded to a distress calls by residents of Irigwe community and brought the crisis under control stopping it from escalating.

Men of the Plateau State Police Command on Tuesday foiled a reprisal attack on Rukuba community in Bassa Local Government Area of the state by their Irigwe neigbours, over alleged killing of an elderly Rukuba woman and 10 others by suspected gunmen from Irigwe.

The incident was said to have exacerbated the communal rift between the two communities over land which started since 5th May 2014.

Spokesman of the command, DSP Emmanuel Abuh, told our correspondent in an interview that the police promptly responded to  a distress calls by residents of Irigwe community and brought the crisis under control stopping it from escalating.

He said, “The police had to respond quickly to distress calls from the community to avoid further bloodshed and we were able to bring the situation under control and to prevent it from spreading into neighbouring communities.”

Abuh appealed to the Irigwe and Rukuba communities to lay down their arms and embrace peace irrespective of their differences, and advised the district heads of the affected communities to ensure that peace returned to their areas.

Chairman of Irigwe/Rukuba Peace Vanguard, Mr. Kure Abbas Yakwe, confirmed the death of a 65-year-old woman who was killed by suspected gunmen while returning from Rukuba market.

He said, “I received calls of fresh attack going on but we are yet to know how many number of dead were recorded but there are casualties.

“The two communities share cultural festivals together, and since the crises broke up on the 5th of May, 2014 we have estimated that many lives were lost and property worth millions of naira destroyed.

“We call on the people to understand that peace is priceless ,lets all together embrace peace as such is paramount in the development of any community. We are calling on the youths of the two communities to laydown their arms and embrace peace by harmonizing their differences through dialogue because without this peace there won’t be any meaningful development in the local government.”

He pleaded with the youths of Irigwe and Rukuba to embrace peace so that they can move forward.

Yakwe also admonished elders of Bassa local council to put aside their differences and advise the youths to be responsible citizens.

He implored the state and local governments to intervene in this dispute by calling on their children to stop the killings.

He said, “Peace have been restored to the area and we have even organized peace tournament between the fighting communities to engage them on peace and dialogue so that they will eschew violence and embrace one another.”

Yakwe said some faceless individuals who did not mean well for the community were conniving with outsiders to wreak havoc in the localities.

“I believe that some of the people are fighting us secretly because after the peace parley the two kingdom agreed not to fight again,” he said.

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Police foil attack on Plateau community