Some of them, who spoke to SaharaReporters, said they had been living in church premises in Bokkos as Internally Displaced Persons after armed herdsmen ransacked their homes on March 8, 2018.
Residents of Johho in Daffo District of Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State have accused the Federal and state government of abandoning them two years after Fulani herdsmen took over their community.
Some of them, who spoke to SaharaReporters, said they had been living in church premises in Bokkos as Internally Displaced Persons after armed herdsmen ransacked their homes on March 8, 2018.
The Plateau State government, however, claimed to have resettled them back to their village but they said they are afraid of returning for fear of being hacked to death.
“We are displaced now, we are not in our area and we can’t go back because Fulani herdsmen have dominated our community for the past two years, we can’t go there because of insecurity.
“The government has failed us. We can’t go back to our community without security and they have not provided security for us. We don’t even have where to return to because our houses have been razed to the ground when attacks occurred. They keep telling us to wait, but nothing is happening,” a resident of the community, Ishaya Yakubu said.
SaharaReporters gathered that about 100 natives were killed when the gunmen invaded Johho in Daffo District in 2018.
Another resident who identified himself as Moses David said the government had not shown interest in the welfare of those displaced.
He accused security agencies of not doing enough to stop Fulani herdsmen from invading towns and communities in the state.
“The military and police are not doing anything; they watch as these Fulani people took over our houses, kill our people and our farmlands are taken over and, in some cases, they change the original names of the villages they attack.
“The Fulani have taken over most of the villages in Daffo district, we are now a visitor in our land,” David said.
Another villager, Musa Magit, told SaharaReporters the herdsmen invaded the community in broad daylight, gunning down women and children.
“On March 8, 2018, the Fulani just came and started attacking us in broad daylight, without reason. So we had to leave the place after they killed some of our people, mostly women and children. They also burnt all our houses.
“The Fulani people are now living in our community. Some people who went back to the community were attacked and killed.”