Over the past few years, tens of thousands of victims had lost their
lives in clashes between farmers and herdsmen across the country
especially in the Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa and Taraba states axis
including Zamfara State. Till date the number of victims has not
reduced.
However, between September last year and January 2018 alone,
almost 300 people had lost their lives.
For example in Taraba State more than 100 people had been killed
by herdsmen in the last three months.
Sunday Tribune investigation revealed that more than 63 people
were killed in Lau Local Government Area alone, in January. This
figure was confirmed by the state governor, Darius Ishaku, while
blaming the federal government for being indifferent to the plight
of his people.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), has it on record that 40
other persons were killed in separate attacks in Wukari, Donga, and
Gassol local government areas within the same period.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP David Misal told
Sunday Tribune in an interview that the state police command could
not give a precise figure of the number of victims because most of
the deaths were not reported.
Barely ten hours after Governor Ishaku raised the alarm over notice
of an impending attack on the state, gunmen made good their
threat and killed four persons in Ngutswen village of Gassol Local
Government Area of the state.
Narrating the incident, Mr Tyav Ngutswen who is the eldest
surviving person in the village said that the heavily armed attackers
numbering over twenty stormed the village around 10:00 pm and
opened fire killing four persons as they scampered for safety. He
added that more than 10 persons had been killed in the village by
herdsmen since the beginning of year.