The scale of the horrendous attacks on communities in Plateau State became clearer yesterday with police giving the figure of casualties at 96 dead and hundreds injured.
But the chairmen of the two local governments where the dastardly act took place said 155 people were killed with over a thousand injured.
The figures may rise, according to the chairmen, because villagers are combing the bushes for bodies of those who might have been killed while trying to escape.
According to them, many people are missing.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday ordered security agents to fish out the killers and vowed that when apprehended, they would not be spared.
The president spoke when he received governors, who visited him under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), led by its chairman, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq.
Condemnations and anger trailed the mindless killings.
Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang, Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF), senators, House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Northern Elders Forum (NEF) flayed the attacks.
On Sunday, Governor Muftwang said 50 people died after the attacks, but police said yesterday that the casualty figure had risen to 96.
Chairmen of the two councils, Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau State – Monday Kassa and Danjuma Dakil – put the number of the dead at 155, adding that 1,000 persons were injured.
Kassa told The Nation that his kinsmen were as of yesterday in the bushes searching for their missing relatives.
The Police also said that 221 houses and several vehicles and motorcycles were burnt by the marauders.
President Tinubu, according to a statement by his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, described the situation as “heinous and brutal”.
The statement said: “Nigeria needs peace and stability to move forward. Nigeria belongs to all of us, and we have to take care of it.
“President Bola Tinubu strongly condemns the heinous and brutal attacks in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau State, which resulted in the tragic loss of many lives.
“President Tinubu directs security agencies to immediately move in, scour every stretch of the zone, and apprehend the culprits.
“The President also directs immediate mobilisation of relief resources for surviving victims of the primitive and cruel attacks as well as medical treatment for the wounded.
“While condoling with the government and the people of Plateau State, President Tinubu assures Nigerians that these envoys of death, pain, and sorrow will not escape justice.”
Police confirm 96 deaths, 221 burnt houses
The Plateau State Police Command also lamented the attacks, saying the death toll had risen to over 96.
It said: “Findings from the assessment of the ugly incidents in Bokkos LGA revealed that the total number of villages attacked is 12.
“Two hundred and twenty-one houses were set ablaze, 27 motorcycles were burnt, eight motor vehicles were burnt down and over 79 persons were killed.
“Seventeen deaths were also recorded in Barkin-Ladi LGA.”
The police listed the villages as Ndun, Ngyong, Murfet, Makundary, Tamiso, Chiang, Tahore, Gawarba, Dares, Meyenga, Darwat and Butura Kampani in Bokkos council and Barkin-Ladi LGA as well as NTV, Hurum and Darawat in Barkin-Ladi.
The command, in a statement by its Spokesman, Okoro Alawari, also condoled the families of the victims.
Alawari added that the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations had been directed to relocate to Bokkos LGA and to deploy well-armed operational forces to other troubled areas to prevent further attacks.
But Kassa said Bokkos council lost 125 persons while his Barkin Ladi counterpart Danjuma Dakil stated that the number had risen from 17 to 30 in his area.
Kassa, in a telephone interview with The Nation, said: “The situation on the ground now is not yet Uhuru. We are working tirelessly. We never launched any attack on anyone. They are the ones attacking and we cannot understand why.
“The death toll from Bokkos now is 125.”
Dakil also said the casualty figure “is now 30, not 17 as earlier reported”
The council chairmen added that over 1,000 injured persons were rushed to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH ) and “several other hospitals in Jos.”
