In a tragic incident, armed assailants attacked a group of youths at a mining site near Kuba and Maikatako villages in the Butura district of Bokkos Local Government Area, Plateau State, killing four and injuring five others. The assault, which occurred at approximately 9 p.m. on October 10, is the latest in a series of violent incidents affecting the Butura community.
According to eyewitness reports, the attackers, reportedly speaking a Fulani dialect, swiftly carried out the assault and left before military personnel stationed nearby could respond. Those killed in the attack include Bwefuk Musa (21), Klingshak Dickson (21), Promise Joshua (20), and Nyam Abaka (20). Just days before, five members of a family, including a pregnant woman, were killed in a similar attack in the village of Wumat.
The Butura Youth Movement (BYM), represented by its president Sabastine Magit, expressed deep concern over the frequency and severity of these unprovoked attacks. BYM has called on authorities to investigate statements made by local Fulani leaders to Daily Trust, which they claim falsely accused the Butura community of violence against Fulani members. Magit stressed that such statements often precede or follow attacks, alleging a strategy of misinformation to shift blame.
Magit emphasized that the community’s patience is wearing thin and warned that residents may resort to self-defense if authorities do not take urgent action to protect them. “We are a community of less than 100,000 people, and we cannot sit by as those we welcomed into our midst threaten our very existence,” he stated.
The BYM urged the government to address the escalating violence and protect the Butura people’s right to safety and land ownership. Concluding with a plea for peace, Magit reiterated that while all Nigerians have the right to live and work freely, such rights must not come at the cost of threatening others’ lives and livelihoods.