Moses Gbande
No fewer than 30 persons have been confirmed killed in fresh attacks in Nasarawa and Plateau States.
While 12 persons were reported killed in Giza town, Mai Local Government Area of Nasarawa State in an early morning raid by armed men, 18 were killed in three local government areas of Plateau State.
In Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State, 16 persons were killed.
Two persons were also on Tuesday confirmed dead and several wounded in a communal clash at a border between Pankshin and Kanke Local Government Areas of Plateau State.
The Chairman of Pankshin Local Government Area, Samuel Goar, confirmed the incident.
Goar said the clash was between Ngas and Pai people in Shiwer community of Pankshin Local Government Area and Dokpai community in Kanke Local Government Area.
The chairman said that mostly affected areas in the crisis were Piri, Tigiya and Irnet villages within the Shiwer and Dokpai districts.
He said that it took the intervention of the security operatives and management of the two councils to stop the clash.
The chairman said the incident occurred in the early hours of Monday and left over 50 houses burnt with many people displaced.
Goar said that the area in dispute was a piece of land covering three villages.
He said the clash was unfortunate and a sad one, noting that the communities had been living together for a very long time without any problem until now.
He said: “We are not happy about the incident, which left in its trail two dead bodies and several others injured with houses and other property destroyed.
“All we are trying to do now is to see how we can cater for the Internally Displaced Persons from the affected two warring communities.”
The chairman thanked the security agents from the two councils for their swift intervention, especially the Special Task Force and the police, which controlled the crisis.
He also thanked the elders from the two communities for their cooperation and for listening to the government and security operatives on the matter.
Goar said he would liaise with his counterpart in Kanke Local Government Area to ensure that relief materials were provided to the displaced persons and cater for the injured in Pankshin General Hospital.
Contacted, the spokesman of the Military Special Tasks Force, Captain Salisu Mustapha, also confirmed the crisis, saying that soldiers restored normalcy to the communities.
Mustapha, however, said that no arrest had been made, while investigation into the causes of the incident had begun.