Tension in Plateau over killing

Category: News Published on Monday, 04 February 2013 05:00

The killing of two land agents, one Fulani and the other Hausa, in Doi, a village in the Du District of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, has raised tension in the area over the rumoured likelihood of a reprisal attack by the homogeneous Hausa-Fulani community around Jos.

National Secretary of Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) Alhaji Sale Bayari told Daily Trust yesterday that the land agents went to Doi on Thursday to inspect a piece of land which the owner, Aisha Abubakar Audu, wife of Kogi State’s former governor Abubakar Audu, was offering to sell, and that it was in the process of inspecting the land that the two were attacked by Berom youths.

Bayari said the land agents went with their driver but while the driver was able to escape with his life, the agents, Lawal Isa and Dan Tani Suleiman, died from the attack.

Uncertainty which had since enveloped the area rose yesterday when the rumour became rife that the Hausa-Fulani community around Jos was planning a reprisal mission to Doi, creating unease for the residents, many of who are now on the run.

The Special Task Force (STF) said it could not confirm the casualty figure. Spokesman of the Task Force, Capt. Mustapha Salisu, said although he knew of the attack in Doi, he could not confirm the casualty figure.