NINE people were killed on Wednesday night in a fresh attack during a crossover night celebration in Chigwi village, Vwang District of Jos South Local Government Area, Plateau State.
The secretary to the district head of Vwang, Iliya Chung, confirmed the incident to The ICIR in a telephone interview Thursday morning, January 1, saying the victims included men, women and children.
“What happened is that yesterday around 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., we got a call that there’s an attack at one of our villages called Boom in Chigwi village in Vwang district, and we were hearing gunshots and around 12 a.m. They started bringing some of the victims that were affected. So, around that yesterday, we received six bodies,” said Chung.
He explained that nine dead bodies were confirmed on Thursday morning, noting that an entire family was wiped during the attack. He could not confirm how many were injured. He said the affected community was still documenting the number of people injured.
“This morning, we confirmed that it’s nine people. There were eight corpses and another one who gave up at the hospital this morning. Currently, there is tension in the area. There is one family that was wiped, it’s only one child that survived in that family. We don’t know the number of people that were injured up till now because we are still gathering some of the names of the people. Police are there right now,” he said.
The ICIR that the latest incident echoes the deadly Christmas Eve attack on communities in Bokkos Local Government Area in 2023, during which at least 160 people were killed.
Explaining the latest attack, Chung noted that the district head had warned its people because he had received a threat of the attack, but the threat showed that its target would be Farin Lamba community. Following the attack, he said the district has suspended its annual grand new year celebration.
“Even though we warned our people that we should not do crossover celebrations. We were hearing that there will be an attack, but not that area. They were saying that they would attack Farin Lamba, but they went to another village. We’re supposed to have our celebration today, New Year celebration in Vwang that the governor wanted to come for. Because of this thing now, there’s nothing we can do. We are suspending everything because of what has happened,” he said.
Chung said that a similar attack occurred two weeks ago at K-Vom division where a police officer was killed, and his gun was taken.
“About two weeks ago, there was an attack in K-Vom Division, in which they killed a policeman. He was on his duty post around 11 p.m. to 12 a.m., they came and killed him, and they left with his gun,” he added.
The Police Public Relations Office, Plateau State Police Command, Alfred Alabo, told The ICIR that he could not confirm the latest attack.
“I am working on some of this information,” Alabo said, noting that the officers in Vwang would inform him when they are done compiling their report on the incident. He also promised to get back to the reporter when he obtained report on the incident.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.