Plateau attacks: LG chairman advises IDPs to return home

Tamai Simon, Chairman, Bokkos Local Government in Plateau, has advised people displaced by the recent attacks on villages in Daffo District, to return home.
Simon told the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Bokkos that security men had been deployed to the affected areas to protect its inhabitants.
NAN reports that 30 people were confirmed killed by gunmen that also burnt down many villages between March 8 and March 10, 2018.
Reports had indicated that thousands of people were displaced in the wake of the violence that hit Hotom, Maidunna, Ganda, Mborok, Farunhai, Ngakudung, Josho and Warrem villages.
While some of the fear-stricken villagers fled to Daffo, others ran to Bokkos where they took refuge in schools, Churches, uncompleted buildings or relations’ houses.
Last week, hundreds of women from the area protested alleged neglect of the Internally Displaced Persons by the Plateau government, and described the conditions in the camps as “horrible”.
But Simon, who described the attacks as unfortunate, said that more security operatives, mostly anti-riot Policemen, had been deployed to the area to beef up the security.
Simon said that he had initiated monthly security meetings where stakeholders would discuss security matters so as to tackle emerging issues before they snowballed into a crisis.
He said that government had purchased some relief items to cushion the effect of the violence on the victims and assist them to settle down.
Mallo Dauda, the District Head of Daffo, who also spoke with NAN, confirmed that relative peace had returned to the area, and advised the IDPs to return to their homes.
Dauda said: “It has been difficult to convince the IDPs to return to their homes because they are still afraid, but we are doing our best to lure them back home and to their farms.”
Terna Tyopev, spokesman of the Police Command in Plateau, who confirmed the deployment of some Mobile Police units to the area, equally advised the IDPs to return home.
Tyopev said: “We hope that with the deployment of more security men to the affected communities, the people will return home to continue their usual activities.”