A woman who lost eight family members in the April 9th attack by suspected Fulani militia in Mbwelle village, Kwatas district of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, has accused soldiers dispatched to the area of protecting herdsmen’s cows while deserting the people they were supposed to protect.
The distressed woman, who made the accusations in a video that conflict journalist Kim Masara Usman posted on social media on Sunday, claimed that when the attackers broke into the village, the terrified locals frantically called the troops under the Operation Ensuring Peace task force in the hopes that they would save them.
However, the woman claims that during the more than two-hour-long attack, the soldiers never intervened to save them
She added, “To the dismay of the invaded community, it was later found that a gun truck belonging to Sector 5 of the OPEP task force was seen positioned in front of a Fulani settlement where the attackers had retreated after carrying out the invasion.”
“Our elders and youths called the military who were stationed less than three kilometers away when the Fulani attackers arrived in our hamlet that evening and began firing at the residents.
“We begged them to help us, but they refused,” she claimed.
For over two hours, the Fulani attackers were yelling “Allah Akbar” and firing at our people, but the military failed to arrive. They broke into our home and murdered eight members of my family, including my brother’s pregnant wife.
How evil might they be? My father, my brothers, and my young nephews were all murdered. What did these individuals do to merit such a demise?
We ultimately lost more than twenty people. We learned that the Fulani murderers fled to Korong, one of the villages they had previously driven the residents from and taken over by force.
The woman bemoaned, “As if that wasn’t enough, we later discovered that the soldiers had parked their gun truck in front of Korong, providing security for the Fulani people while leaving innocent people open to attack.”
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