The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, has held Plateau State elders and elite culpable for stoking the incessant violent clashes in the state.
Buratai, who was represented by the commander, Special Task Force (STF), code-named Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), Major-General Augustine Agundu, stated this at the burial of the three soldiers that were recently killed in Barkin Ladi, Plateau State on September 6, 2018.
Meanwhile, 27 persons, including two women, were also paraded yesterday after their arrest in connection with the recent violence in Jos.
Agundu said 72 persons were arrested, and after investigations 30 of them confessed to the crime, of which the 27 were paraded. He warned that OPSH would no longer tolerate any attempt to attack the troops.
Agundu revealed that the body language of the elite and elders, their actions and inactions, have emboldened the youth to maim and kill innocent passers-by at their whims and caprices.
He said: “OPSH effectively came into force on January 21, 2010, but the crises on the Plateau had lingered prior to the establishment of the operation in 2000/2001 with vulnerable persons bearing the brunt of the crises. In recent times, the crisis has revolved around the total act of criminality by some misguided and irate youths mostly under the influence of hard substances.
“It is evident that these youths are supported by a section of the elite/elders bearing their inability to encourage them to eschew violence, resulting in the absence of any tangible progress towards peace.
“The actions or inactions of the elders can be classified as one of the contributory sources that have rather emboldened the youths to maim and kill innocent passers-by at their whims and caprices.
Human dignity has lost its value on the Plateau. The troops of OPSH, like all service personnel, are officially detailed to Plateau State to perform the duties upon which they swore an oath to serve the nation.”
Buratai said that, in the recent past, the mere presence of troops served as a deterrent to the warring parties to toe the path of law and order, but, unfortunately, servicemen are increasingly becoming victims of internal strife and most often their success stories go unnoticed.
“It is evident that there exist armed ethnic militia groups sponsored or supported by some elite and elders who deploy the misguided youths into committing the worst of heinous crimes.
There is certainly no constitutional provision that allows civilians to bear firearms but their possession has become a well sort-out vocation here in the Plateau.
“The DHQ Special Force Team was deployed to OPSH on 25 June 2018 as a result of the growing insecurity and lawlessness in some communities of Barkin Ladi LGA in Plateau State.
Indeed, their deployment in OPSH greatly assisted in bringing normalcy to the area as well as creating an enabling environment for people to go about their normal lives.”
He said the avoidable incident of September 6, 2018, led to the death of the gallant soldiers who battled the armed militias in order to save the communities that were under attack.
He also condemned what he described as the conspiracy of silence among the elders and elite going on in the state.
He also dismissed what he described as “media hype” about fake soldiers, saying there is no fake soldier going from door to door. “The dexterity my men exhibited was what marveled the criminals.”
He, however, admitted that there were some criminals in black attires perpetrating violence that have been arrested as you can see them here, but they are not soldiers.
