The Governor of Plateau State Simon Lalong has told President muhammadu Buhari that the events of last weekend and early Monday morning that saw over 120 killed and 50 houses razed to the ground, were nothing short of a terrorist invasion of Plateau State.
The governor who used the termed “terrorist” to describe the alleged herdsmen who allegedly attacked and killed villagers in different parts of the state, a term which has been alien to President Buhari according to some Nigerians, especially when it comes to the issue of herdsmen and farmer crisis, is clearly a bold step from the governor.
The governor who did not mince any word while addressing the president on the crisis said the alleged terrorists were armed with sophisticated weapons as eyewitnesses have described the invasion, as against helpless villagers who could not defend themselves. He said:
My message to President Buhari as he visits to commiserate with Plateau…something drastic needs to be done comprehensively, to nip once and for all the ugly menace of attacks that have come to be associated with suspected Militia Herdsmen.
We are concerned as a State that sophisticated weapons used in these attacks, from the evidence on the ground and the narrations of victims are not those conventional to our environment for self-defense but reflective of a terrorist invasion
Given the number of villages that have been completely ravaged, I wish to re-echo the earlier requests we made as a State for an Emergency Special Intervention Fund to help us reconstruct our ravaged communities. ”
I have stated in my several Press Releases and State Address in the wake of these attacks, that any group or group of persons who set us to inflame and aggravate the current situation will face the full wrath of the law. “
I thank you for identifying with our grief as a State