HOW MANY MORE DEATH BEFORE WE DO THE RIGHT THING?

Gentlemen of the Press.

Following the sad event that occurred on Tuesday 7th November, 2017, at Diyan Junction near Rim Village in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State where nine (9) persons were gruesomely murdered by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on their way back from the market, the Senator representing Plateau North in the National Assembly, Distinguished Senator (Dr.) Jonah David Jang hereby condemns in strong terms, the wicked act at this precarious times when the State has not recovered from the horror unleashed on Bassa Local Government Area by the same suspects last month.

The Senator feels the pain and suffering these recurring attacks have caused the people of Plateau North Senatorial District in recent times, and continues to share in the hope that one day the merchants of evil who are terrorizing the Middle-belt and other parts of the country would be brought to justice.

Importantly, the coordinated attacks Plateau State has suffered over the years reveal a sinister plot to use the weapon of terror and barbarism to sack towns and villages, killing men, women, and children in service to an expansionist agenda conceived to seize and occupy the ancestral lands of our people. The daring methods of the attackers which seem to confound the might and sophistry of Nigeria’s armed forces, seek to return the country to the dark ages despite great advancements in civilization. It also calls to question, the will of government at all levels to secure the lives and properties of its citizens.

Senator Jonah Jang believes very strongly that the time has come for the federal government to review its strategy in dealing with violent conflicts especially where herdsmen are concerned. There is therefore no gainsaying that the time is now most appropriate for open grazing to be outlawed . It is on this solemn conviction that the Senator hereby declares his unflinching support for the campaign seeking to prohibit open grazing, and at the same time call on the government of Plateau State to enact its own anti-open grazing law in the interest of our people and the longevity of the lives God in his provision chose to give us. Furthermore, he finds it most apt to call on other States especially those in the Meddle-belt to follow suit.

At a time the attackers have become more emboldened by the unrestrained cruelty they revel in, the Senator wishes to use this opportunity to call on the armed forces of Nigeria to save the country from international ridicule by investigating the authenticity of the video that have gone viral on social media with the aim of identifying, apprehending, and dealing with the herdsmen who were seen branding AK47 rifles while feeding a farmer’s harvested tubers of yam to their cows . That video proves quite succinctly, that the killers of our people are no longer unknown gunmen.

As a matter of urgency, the Federal Government of Nigeria must also play its part in the intervention process. An extraordinary national conference must be summoned to discuss purposefully, the incessant waves of attacks on farmers by herdsmen who are now arguably more deadly than Boko Haram. The conference must have a truly national composition involving all relevant stakeholders from every corner of the country to allow for the aggregation of diverse experiences of the menace across Nigeria and possible ways to permanently end it.

While commiserating with the people of Riyom Local Government Area especially those whose loved ones were murdered, Senator Jonah David Jang will like to use the occasion of this Press Conference to call on the Governor of Plateau State Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong to suspend his foreign trip at the wake of the killings on Tuesday, to return home to tackle the growing insecurity, uncertainty, and despair in the State.

Signed.
Clinton Garuba
Media Consultant to
Senator Jonah Jang.

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Sen. Jonah Jang condemns in strong terms attack and Gruesome murder in Riyom LGA, Bassa, other parts of Plateau State and North Central