Plateau State Government Frustrated by Failure of Security Agencies to Apprehend, Stop Attackers

The Plateau State Government has voiced deep frustration over what it describes as the Nigerian Army’s failure to apprehend or neutralise armed assailants who brutally killed 27 farmers in Tahoss community, Riyom Local Government Area, on Monday.

Speaking on Channels Television’s “The Morning Brief” on Friday, the state’s Commissioner for Information, Joyce Ramnap, criticised the military for not making any arrests despite being in close proximity to the scene of the massacre.

“The checkpoint is barely 200 metres from where this incident happened,” Ramnap revealed. “The response we got was that none were arrested and none were captured. None of those killed were affected by all that happened.”

Ramnap said the community is situated along an accessible road and is surrounded by multiple military checkpoints, a situation that, in her view, makes the military’s inaction even more disturbing.

“It is not a hidden community that we would say is far, and that is why the people were not able to access help,” she said. “We do not want to stereotype and say the entire Army compromised in this case. However, there is room to do more investigation, and the governor specifically requested that there should be at least some form of arrest.”

She added, “If you are that close and you engaged them closely like that, you should be able to say this is where they followed and the measures to arrest them, but so far, no arrest has been made.”

The commissioner described the incident as an unprovoked and despicable attack. Beyond the killings, she said the attackers also destroyed large swathes of farmland, compounding the tragedy for the largely agrarian community.

Echoing previous comments by Governor Caleb Mutfwang, Ramnap said the frequent and targeted attacks in Plateau amount to genocide, adding that while some soldiers have acted gallantly, there are “bad eggs” undermining security efforts in the state.

According to her, the assailants launched their assault from three directions. While one section of the community managed to resist, another—particularly near a church where residents had taken shelter—was devastated.

“The attacks came from three different sides of the community. One side was able to contain them and ensure that nothing happened. The other side that was closest to the place where the people were hiding in the church—those were the ones that were worst hit, and that is why we got that number of casualties,” she said.

She shared a chilling account of the church pastor, who fled his home with his wife to escape the attackers. “Right in his house, six people were killed,” Ramnap recounted.

This massacre is the latest in a series of deadly attacks that have plagued Plateau State in recent months, with repeated calls by residents and officials for stronger and more effective security interventions.