Plateau community alleges fresh killings, rape
From Isa Abdulsallami,
Jos
DESPITE efforts by the emergency administration in Plateau to stem the orgy of violence in the state, five male indigenes in Gamai community have been allegedly killed while travelling through Yelwa.
On the heels of the incident, the suspended Governor of the state, Chief Joshua Dariye has urged Nigerians to have faith in God and the polity regardless of its travails.
The Gamai community, under the aegis of the Gamai Unity and Development Organisation (GUDO) claimed that three women travelling with the murdered men were also abducted and subjected to forced sexual sprees for eight days.
The group added that the eyes and private parts of the deceased men were removed.
A statement yesterday by the secretary-general of GUDO, Mr. Stephen Sarki Musa noted: "On arrival at Yelwa, the driver deceived them, saying that he needed additional fuel for the journey to Ajikami/Yamini, only for him to take them (three women and five men) to a house, which turned out to be a slaughter slab.
"On arrival at the house, they met an unspecified number of fully armed men uniformly dressed. There and then, the five men were killed with their eyes and private parts removed. As the killing went on, the women were beaten and taken to a room, where they were drugged and subjected to an orgy of sex for eight days from July 9 to 16, 2004.
The statement disclosed that one of the three captured women, through the assistance of a Good Samaritan, escaped from her captors to tell the tale.
"On Friday, July 16, a Good Samaritan, who aided their escape told the women that they would be killed by their abductors on their return from Jumat prayers. Since their escape, the other two women are yet to return and thus we believe they are either dead or may have been caught and returned to the slaughter house," the statement added.
The survivor, for now, is in the custody of the state government.
The community stated that if the development was not arrested immediately, it would derail the peace process embarked upon by the state government.
The statement claimed that most of the returnees to Yelwa were new faces imported to destabilise whatever peace process that was put in place by the state government and other well-meaning people.
The community urged government to declare Yelwa "a no-go area" while all its residents, irrespective of their ethnic or religious backgrounds should be evacuated immediately for the security operatives to properly comb the area for illegally acquired weapons.
It added that all returnees must report their presence to the appropriate authorities to ensure that only genuine residents of the town return.
But in a reaction yesterday after an emergency security meeting, the government said that it was aware of events of the past two weeks in Shendam Local Government Area, particularly in Yelwa.
The government assured that investigations were on "with a view to verifying the story". We want to assure the general public that government has the capacity to protect lives and property."
A statement by the Director of Press Affairs tot he Administrator, Mr. Ezekiel Dalyop, said that the government was appealing to the public especially the people in Shedam council to remain law-abiding and not to take laws into their own hands.
It further called on the people of the state to be wary of agents of destabilisation and rumour mongers who might parade themselves as defender of just causes
Dalyop had earlier told The Guardian that the woman survivor in the Yelwa saga was already in the government custody recuperating in the hospital.
But the new Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr. Joseph Apapa, told journalists to earlier that he was going to talk on the issue after meeting with government.
But after the meeting, he told journalists that they had all agreed to issue only one statements adding that the statement issued by government was also binding on him to avoid contradictions.
While delivering a sermon at the COCIN Church on Sunday at his Mushare country home, Daroye charge Nigerian to hook up to God in whatever situation they found themselves as He would never disappoint those who trusted in him.
