The dark cloud of death that has been stalking Plateau State
thickened, yesterday, after Senator Gyang Dantong and the Majority Leader of
the Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr. Gyang Fulani were killed while
attending the mass burial of about 50 victims of Saturday’s attack on villages
in Barkin Ladi and Riyom local government areas of the state.
The killing of the lawmakers came on the heels of the discovery,
yesterday, of the remains of over 50 persons mostly women and children burnt
inside the residence of a local pastor where they had taken refuge following
the attack on about 14 villages by suspected Fulani herdsmen on Saturday.
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| GYANG FULANI, AND SENATOR GYANG DANTONG |
The two lawmakers were reportedly gunned down at Maseh village in
Riyom LGA where over 50 victims of Saturday’s attack were being buried.
The gunmen reportedly stormed the venue and opened fire on those present,
causing more deaths.
Member representing Barkin-Ladi/Riyom Constituency in the House of
Representatives, Mr. Simon Mwadkon was lucky as he escaped with injuries and
was resuscitated at the Barkin-Ladi
General Hospital
where he was rushed to after he fainted.
Senator Dantong was the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP senator
representing the Plateau North Senatorial District and was until his death
yesterday, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health. The developments
which sparked angry reactions across Plateau
State was immediately
flayed by the senate with Senate President David Mark describing the death as a
personal loss. Senator Dantong’s colleagues in the Senate including Senate
spokesman, Enyinnanya Abaribe; Senators Pius Ehwerido and Ifeanyi Okowa also
paid tributes to a man they described as a gentleman.
Speaker Aminu Tambuwal of the House of Representatives also joined
in the condemnation of the killings, describing Senator Dantong as a man of
peace whose death is highly regrettable.
The death of the 50 persons in the residence of the pastor of the Church of Christ
in Nigeria
at Maseh village was believed to have been the handiwork of the suspected
Fulani herdsmen who were believed to have torched the house when they
discovered that the people had taken refuge there
The killing of the lawmakers sparked off angry reactions around
the plateau as youths took over the highway to protest what they described as a
genocide against the Berom people allegedly by the Fulani.
Commenting on the killings, a Jos-based civil rights group, Centre
for the Advocacy of Justice and Rights in a statement by its Director, Mr. Gad
Peter called for the sacking of all security chiefs in the country.
According to Senator Mark, the deceased was a patriotic
parliamentarian, quintessential gentleman and committed nationalist who was
killed in active service to his fatherland.
The Peoples Democratic Party in its reaction expressed utter shock
at renewed violence in Plateau
State describing as
heinous and reprehensible the Sunday violent attack that claimed the lives of
Senator Dantong, Mr. Gyang
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