By Abdul Abdul, Jos
It is sad that the death toll of Monday night of June 3, 2024 attack in a remote and quiet community of Kwall in Bassa Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State where five people including a pastor and his wife were killed has now risen to seven.
Mr. Danladi Samuel, a farmer at Kwall community told our Correspondent at the Bauchi Road Motor Park in Jos that he was going back to the community as peace and calm have returned after the ugly incident.
Samuel explained that he was “returning from the farm with two other men when they suddenly ran into the criminal elements who were well armed to the teeth and just shot the two men who died instantly. They believed that we were a disturbance to their operation.
“I did not go in the company of the two deceased persons as I stayed behind a while to urinate when the men were shot dead. I quickly dashed into the bush without allowing the armed bandits to see him.”
He said that it was from there that he trekked in the bush at that wee hour of the day to a nearby Miango village also in Bassa Council for safety and from there to Jos.
According to him, it was the following day as he was travelling to Jos that passengers in the bus started narrating the incident that a pastor, his wife and other three persons were killed by the heartless bandits, and was telling them too how he escaped death but that two people he was coming with from the farm were instantly macheted to death, bringing the total death to seven.
According to the report, Pastor Dauda Dalyop aged 63 years of Assembles of God Church in Kwall; his wife Mrs. Chummy Dauda aged 57 years; Mr. Chwe Ajuhs, 26 years; Mr. Joshua Kusa aged 45 years; and Mrs. Rikwe Doro who is 43 years were gunned down while others were severely injured.
The five dead persons were confirmed by the National Publicity Secretary of the Irigwe Development Association, Sam Jugo, in a statement he distributed to his kinsmen.
He said that the criminal elements killed five persons in the night of Monday in cold blood as they came in their numbers armed with heavy and dangerous weapons, adding that two men who were seriously injured are undergoing treatment at home.
Jugo disclosed also that troops of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) trooped to the scene to forestall further killings.
He said that the unfortunate incident occurred two days after one of their youths was ambushed and killed.
The Secretary General of Irigwe People’s Development Association, Danjuma Auta, said there is an uneasy calm in the community, appealing to the people not to take the laws into their hands as the troops are up to the task.
Auta said that the people should remain calm and be law abiding, adding that the OPSH has set up 17 man peace committee to investigate the incident.
