Plateau State Government has confirmed the death of six persons and 30 others injured in communal clashes in Mikang Local Government of the state.
Mr Musa Ashoms, the state Commissioner for Information and Communication who spoke with newsmen on Monday in Jos, said that the clashes took place on Sunday in Funyalang and Ponglong communities of the council.
Ashoms warned citizens against taking arms against themselves over issues they could resolve amicably, describing the clashes over land disputes as unfortunate.
“We woke up yesterday with this gory story that people who had lived together all their lives decided to take up arms against themselves. Unfortunately, we lost six persons and we have about 30 persons who are badly injured, while about 40 houses were torched and food bans razed.
“So it’s quite unfortunate that it happened because of a land dispute. It is an issue that could have been resolved amicably, according to the Chairman of Mikang local government. When I asked him, he said, the land cannot even produce six bags of rice,” he said.
He, however, commended security agencies for nipping what he described as cancerous behaviour in the bud, praying that the peace would be sustained.
“As a government, we want to tell people that we will not allow people to just take up arms, kill people and go away with it. As we always say, this is not a banana republic. This is the Plateau of Nigeria, under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Caleb Muftwang.
“We cannot give anything less than responsive and responsible leadership. We’ll not allow people to deter or distract us. Our focus is to make Plateau greater than it had been,” News Agency of Nigeria quoted him saying.
