Plateau Killings Caused By Land Grabbing For Illegal Mining – Ex-Lawmaker

Dachung Musa Bagos, a former representative of the Jos South/Jos East federal constituency in the National Assembly, has asserted that the killings and insecurity in Plateau State are a result of land grabbers exploiting communities for illegal mining and agricultural activities.

Bagos made this revelation on Friday in an interview with Arise Television monitored.

The ex-lawmaker claimed that the wrong narratives had, for many years, been put on the table to explain the killings in the state, adding that there is no issue of an ethnic, religious, or farmer/herder clash in the state.

He said the issues were just the “fake face” given to the major issue of land grabbing for illegal activities.

“What is happening is pure genocide, land grabbing. People come into communities, kill, chase these people, and occupy their lands. And it’s not just a mere statement; the facts and proof are there.”

He claimed that since 2001, over 60 communities had been wiped out on the Plateau.

“The first thing that we have identified is that the wrong narratives have been given to the killings on the Plateau- farmers/herders, it is not so.

Religion? It is not so, but people bring in the element of religion into these killings so that they’ll be able to do what they need,” he said.

He said that there were communities in the hilly side of Plateau State that had no potential for mining, agriculture, or other economic endeavours and that those communities have not been attacked since the inception of Plateau State.

Bagos said the security agencies need to be invited and made to address the Plateau killings and give full reports of the issues after proper investigation.

He, however, stated that the security agencies have done their best with the situation on ground and that they do have the intel of these occurrences but the issue is that they are overwhelmed.