Plateau: Neighbours rejoiced while they burnt our house — Survivor

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IN December 2023 when armed men attacked his Dungwel community, in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, Manji Le’an moved from there to stay with his uncle at Mangu town.

Though his house at Dungwel was not burnt, he said he was worried by the threats the attackers pose to the community, hence the need to relocate to a safer place.

Now, the recent attacks in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State have put more burden on him. He said his blood pressure has gone up, having managed to escape unhurt with his uncle as their neighbours set his uncle’s house ablaze.

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This is the account of one of the survivors of Wednesday’s attack on Mangu which claimed over 30 lives, with several houses razed.

 

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Le’an said: “I left Dungwel on December 13, last year, to stay with my uncle in his house near EKAN Primary School in Mangu town. I thought I will have peace there but as we speak, we have moved to Angwan Mission to stay with some relatives because my uncle’s house was burnt by his Muslim neighbours, on Wednesday. We managed to escape unhurt but we heard and saw them rejoicing that we had been burnt in the house.

 

“Three days ago, some Fulani herders attacked some Mwaghavul youths around the Sabon Gari area. The youths in that area protested against the action and were moving towards Ruga, (a Fulani settlement) to iron out the matter.

 

“Before we knew it, the Muslims settling at Sabon Kaswa (new market) started attacking their Mwaghavul neighbours, asking why the people would go to Ruga.

 

“The natives asked if they were supporting the actions of the Fulani herders that always attack the people and they said yes. The situation degenerated, leading to the burning of houses and the COCIN Church at Sabon Kaswa.

“The thing was snowballing from one place to the other and it got to our area around EKAN Primary school where our Muslim neighbours also joined in burning houses.

 

“When the thing started in our area, we locked ourselves in the house because we didn’t think they will want to harm us but surprisingly, we heard our neighbours asking if we were in and when they confirmed it, they started throwing things on the zinc, breaking the windows as the rampaging youths approached.

“When we saw that the house was on fire, we sneaked out through the back door without a pin as the attackers were gathered at the front.

“As we were walking away, we could hear them saying in Hausa language, “mun kona baban dake cikin dakin,” meaning we have burnt Baba inside the house, referring to my uncle. We are still shocked that this could happen and my BP has gone up. We are waiting for the curfew to be lifted, so I can take my uncle to join his son in Jos.”

 

The violence has been controlled and the curfew enforced at the time of this report. The poor network in the area is limiting communication but some natives say there is rising threat in some communities in Panyam district of Mangu.

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