Doctors in Plateau State said on Thursday that hospital wards and mortuaries in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State have been populated with injured persons and corpses of victims of the armed attacks in the council.
Red Cross Nigeria, in a “Save our Soul (SOS)” message, pleaded with well-meaning individuals to “donate blood to the injured victims.
In a separate SOS, youths of the three ethnic groups in the council, called for a proactive response by the federal and Plateau state governments, saying they had lost over 100 of their kits and kin to different attacks in the last two weeks.
The latest attack by gunmen on Tuesday in Yelwa Zangam Jos North LGA left 35 persons dead, many injured, and scores of houses burnt.
On August 15, 23 persons traveling to Osun State met their untimely death when their vehicle ran into a group of irate youths in. Gada-Biyu-Rukuba Road in the council.
The incident led to the imposition of a 24-hour curfew on the council by Governor Simon Lalong. Jos Central and Jos South were slammed with dusk to dawn curfew.
In spite of the curfew, angry youths took to the streets of Jos on Wednesday in protest against the orgy of killings.
They loaded the bodies of some of the 35 killed residents of Yelwa Zangam in trucks and headed to the Government House and the state House of Assembly to register their anger.
In a statement in Jos yesterday, doctors under the aegis of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Plateau State chapter, said they were worried by the ”physical and psychological” impacts of the attacks on residents of the state.
The statement by the state NMA Chairman, Dr. Innocent Emmanuel and Secretary, Dr. Bapiga’an William, reads: We are deeply concerned that the victims of these unwarranted attacks continue to populate hospitals’ emergency wards and mortuaries in the state.
“Innocent, armless, accommodating and committed citizens of Plateau State have continued to live under the perennial unsavory reality of perpetual terrorism manifesting as kidnappings for ransom, rape, maiming, and killings as well as threats of total annihilation.
“On a daily basis, people are kidnapped from their houses and living with the fear that same will happen the next day elsewhere or in their neighbourhood unabatedly, with huge sums paid as ransom.
”The NMA, therefore, calls upon the government and the security agencies to protect the lives and property which is their primary responsibility.
“The evil perpetrators of these heinous crimes cannot continue to remain unknown gunmen for close to two decades now.
“We call for calm across the state and enjoin the citizens to remain law-abiding and not to take the laws into their hands, but to only seek all available legal means to forestall any further escalation of the already grotesque and appalling situation.”
It also urged religious and political leaders to be mindful and sensitive of their comments, especially in the public domain. They must act as leaders both in private and public circles.”
The association also called on the security agents to protect its members on their different routes to work, especially during the curfew hours.
Head, communications, Redcross Nigeria in the state, Mafeng Mark, appealed to members of the public to make voluntary donation of blood to the wounded victims of the Yelwa Zangam attacks.
Mark, in the S O S on his WhatApps status said the government-owned specialist hospital is the worst hit by the blood shortage..
“As a matter of urgency, please visit the Plateau Specialist Hospital for the donation, all types of blood are needed,” he wrote.
Youths of Afizere, Anaguta and Berom in Jos North LGA called for self-defence, against “ foreign and internal land grabbers” that terrorise their communities.
They explained in a joint statement that the call had become imperative as ”government has not been able to secure” their lives.
The youth alleged that instead of the government sending adequate security agents to the affected communities, soldiers and other securities deployed in Angwan Rukuba molested innocent people.
They blamed the attacks and killings on bandits and called for their immediate arrest.
Their statement was signed by Joseph Arin,. chairman Afizere Youth Movement; Moses Dawang,. president, Anaguta Youth Movement and Yakubu Pam, chairman, Berom Youth Movement.
It partly reads; “We, the three indigenous Ethnic groups of Jos North LGA, that’s the Afizere, Angatu, and Berom wish to categorically rise against the killings, maiming and massacring of innocent of our brothers
“ Within the period of two weeks alone, over 100 people lost their lives in Jos North LGA ranging from attacks and counterattacks.
“We want to state it clearly with equivocation that, these attacks, mowing of crops, land grabbing in Jos North, is being perpetrated by the suspected bandits who graze their cattle on our crops, seizure our lands forcefully and launch attacks.
“We are calling on our people to rise and defend themselves within the tenets of law, before we will all perish from the hands of the attackers.”
The Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) in Plateau State, expressed concern over the attacks and called for caution by residents.
“We are disturbed at not only the wanton killings, but the alarming figures are frightening and depict a high level of callousness, inhumanity, and barbarism”, JNI said in a statement by its spokesperson, Sani Mudi.
The group which is headed in the state by the Emir of Wase, Alhaji Muhammad Haruna, appealed for calm among Muslims to prevent the spread of violence to other parts of the city.
In Kaduna State, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), warned that without, Plateau State would be doomed
It, therefore, called on the people, traditional, religious, and political leaders in the state to support the peace initiatives of Governor Lalong.
In a statement titled ‘The killing fields of The Plateau,’ the forum admonished r Lalong to go beyond the curfew he had imposed by taking “ other measures that will reduce the pains and losses of the people of the state’”.
The Nigeria Christians Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), which also condemned the killings, said the state should not be turned into a graveyard.
The NCPC said in a statement by its Media/Public Relations, Pam Ayuba, charged the government to arrest those behind the killings.
It added: “This scenario certainly is not what we inherited as our cherished heritage. Plateau cannot be turned into a graveyard while we are still alive.
“What is happening on the Plateau is a deliberate attempt to annihilate a people and we must stop paying lip service to gratify the whims and caprices of sponsors of bloodletting, not in Plateau or anywhere at all!”
Meanwhile, Delta and Kaduna state government have commenced the evacuation of their indigenes studying at the University of Jos .
Senior Special Assistant to Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on Students Affairs Jerry Ehiwario and Kaduna State Scholarship and Loans Board Executive Secretary, Hassan Rilwan, disclosed this yesterday.
Ehiwario said: ”The governor graciously approved the evacuation which commenced today (yesterday), We deployed three buses for the purpose.”.
Hassan said that the ”87 students were evacuated on Friday, August 20, 2021, by security agencies under the supervision of the board and have since reunited with their families.”
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