As part of efforts to draw global attention to renewed mass killings in Plateau State, the Plateau Youth Veterans have accused the Federal Government of maintaining “a dangerous silence” amid what they described as a coordinated genocidal war against indigenous communities.
Speaking during a world press conference held in Jos on Thursday, the group said more than 100 persons were brutally killed in Bokkos, Bassa, and Riyom LGAs within a span of just eleven days between April 2nd and 13th, 2025.
Chairman of the group, Adamu Kevin Kesuwo, said the killings were not isolated incidents or communal clashes but part of a broader and well-orchestrated plan to wipe out Plateau natives and take over their ancestral lands.
“This is not a farmer-herder conflict. This is genocide. Over 100 of our people have been killed in less than two weeks, yet there’s no national outrage.
“We have watched with horror as villages in Bokkos and Bassa were wiped out in coordinated attacks by suspected Fulani terrorists. The government remains mute,” Kesuwo stated.
He listed the affected villages to include Mangor, Tamiso, Daffo, Manguna, Hurti and Tadai in Bokkos LGA, where over 51 persons were killed. In another attack on Palm Sunday, more than 54 persons were said to have been murdered in their sleep in Zekki and Kimakpa villages of Bassa LGA.
“What kind of country has its citizens slaughtered in their sleep and responds with silence? Is Plateau not part of Nigeria? Are our people not human?” the chairman asked.
Citing an independent report by a conflict researcher, Gastor Barrie, Kesuwo said Bassa LGA alone had suffered over 2,800 attacks between 2001 and March 2025, resulting in 1,107 deaths, over 20,000 homes destroyed, and 27,000 farms lost.
He also recalled the December 2023 massacre, where about 200 people were reportedly killed on Christmas Day in coordinated raids across several LGAs.
“From 2023 to February 2024 alone, more than 1,300 people were butchered in Plateau State, including over 500 women and 260 children. These are not numbers. These are human beings. Yet, the world watches in silence,” he said.
The Youth Veterans accused the international community of hypocrisy, stating that the silence over Plateau’s killings contrasts sharply with global outcries over Gaza and Ukraine.
“Unlike what is happening in Gaza and Ukraine, does it mean that Plateau people are not human beings? Or that Plateau State is not part of the world system?” he asked.
The group warned that continued inaction would only embolden those perpetrating the violence.
“We consider these senseless acts as a calculated mission to erase Plateau natives from the planet. If we do not defend ourselves, no one will. If we do not rise, we will fall again and again,” Kesuwo warned.
The press conference ended with a call on the Federal Government to urgently implement the Plateau State Anti-Land Grabbing Law, support displaced communities, and collaborate with international bodies to independently investigate the killings.
