Plateau killings: Fact-finding report traces gunmen to Nasarawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Taraba

A fact-finding committee set up by Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has revealed that most armed groups responsible for recurrent killings in the state operate from neighbouring states, exploiting porous borders to launch attacks and retreat.

Presenting the report in Jos, the committee’s chairman, Major General Rogers Ibe Nicholas (retd.), said the panel engaged ethnic nationalities, interest groups, and visited violence-hit communities to gather first-hand accounts.

According to him, attackers often come from Nasarawa, Kaduna, Bauchi and Taraba states, with bandit cells firmly established in border villages. “The committee received a report of disturbances by bandits who are said to have established their cells in two villages of Nasarawa State bordering Quan’pan, forcing Plateau communities there to flee,” Nicholas disclosed.

He added that similar cells with suspected extremist links exist in Wase and Kanam local governments. The committee identified multiple motives behind the violence: competition for land and resources, territorial expansion, ethno-religious dominance, political destabilisation, and criminal profiteering through kidnap-for-ransom and cattle rustling.

The panel noted that attackers take advantage of unmonitored routes: from Nasarawa through Wamba, Lafia and Awe; from Kaduna through Lere, Kaura and Sanga; from Bauchi through Toro, Tafawa Balewa, Bagoro and Alkaleri; and from Taraba through Ibi and Karim Lamido.

“With 420 communities attacked and nearly 12,000 lives lost, Plateau cannot afford to treat such atrocities as business as usual. The violence is coordinated, the motives deliberate, and the sequences devastating,” Nicholas warned.

Receiving the report at Government House, Jos, Governor Mutfwang pledged to implement its recommendations. He also promised to present the findings to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and security experts to help shape a lasting solution to the over two decades of bloodshed.