A non-political and non-partisan group, the Plateau Patriotic Front (PFF), has said that recent killings in the Plateau were not mere farmer-herder clashes.

The group, in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday by its chairman, Mani Imman, said the narrative that the killings were communal or herder/farmer-related was not only misleading but dangerous.

According to Mr Imman, the narrative also disrespects the memory of the victims of the brutal killings.

He urged the presidency and indeed Nigerians not to overlook the issue, based on the comments of the governor of the state, Caleb Mutfwang.

Mr Imman quoted Mr Mutfwang as stating that while the state grappled with various forms of criminality, such as kidnappings and cattle rustling, the violence ravaging many communities could not be described as mere farmer-herder clashes.

He appealed to President Bola Tinubu to bring the full force of the law on those behind the killings in the state, saying it might be an agenda to destabilise the country.

The chairman, who said that there were no serious communal issues in the state to have necessitated the killings, called on communities with any issue to ‘open up and speak up.’

Mr Imman noted that the reduction of the killings to mere communal issues was an indication that the indigenous people of Plateau had been forgotten.

He called on the federal government to pay attention to what was happening in Plateau State and nip it in the bud to prevent its escalation to other parts of the country. 

(NAN)