Published 16th Oct, 2021

By Gabriel Ogunjobi

Some marauding Fulani herders have waylaid a farmer’s family on their way to the farm at Nkiedonwro village, Miango District, Plateau State, killing three people, including Abednego Amos, an eight-year-old child.

Abednego and his father, David Amos, were shot dead alongside Reuben Sunday, their driver, during the attack at about 8 am on Friday. However, Emma Amos, 12, Abednego’s brother, survived the attack with gunshot injuries.

According to a source, David’s family members were among the over 1,500 people that fled Nkiedonwro in 2017 after incessant attacks by Fulani militias on the Christian community.

“Although they had abandoned their house since 2017, they sometimes went back there in the daytime to farm in order to earn their living,” the source said.

FIJ gathered that 29 people were massacred in a class where they had hidden when the militias invaded Nkiedonwro and razed many houses on October 15, 2017.

**Flyer for the remembrance event for the 29 slain people in Nkiedonwro village**

The yearly commemoration event for the 2017 murdered villagers was held on Friday shortly before Nkiedonwro residents received the news of this latest attack.

Nkiedonwro residents rendered homeless in 2017 had relocated to neighbouring towns like Zawra and Jebbu-Miango that were later ravaged by the militias between July and August 2021.

**Names of 2017 slain people in Nkiedonwro village**

“Soldiers are now around the ravaged village, but the truth is that some of these villagers no longer have confidence in the military after the massive killings of 2017,” said Nuhu Nga, Miango Youth Development Association’s secretary.

“They believe there are some sorts of connection between the soldiers and the herders.”

The Nigerian military is yet to absolve itself of the allegation by local residents that it is shielding Fulani militias.

After the militias killed three people and injured three others in Hukke town on October 3, Major Ishaku Takwa, the information officer for the Operation Safe Haven of the Nigerian Army Plateau Command, accused Miango residents of launching reprisal attacks which escalated into subsequent farmers-herders clashes.

He said, “Please, ask these people, anytime they are killed or injured, they run to the media, but they will not rush to the media when they attack the Fulani or other tribes in that area.

“We have told them that they must agree to stay together. We cannot follow them to the farm. They should stop attacking and counter-attacking.”

Although FIJ had exclusively gathered that the soldiers had a meeting with Fulani and Hukke leaders following a warning letter the militias sent to Hukke, Takwa denied knowledge of the letter and the meeting.

Share on Social Media