Plateau Massacre: Fulani Elder Confirms Attackers Were His Tribesmen, Says 46 Killed Despite His Pleas
A Fulani elder who has lived for over three decades in the Hurti community of Manguna District, Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State, has confirmed that the assailants who recently attacked the area and killed 46 residents were members of his own tribe.
In a video shared on Tuesday by journalist Masara Kim Usman, the elderly man—respected in the community despite being a Fulani Muslim—said the attackers spoke fluent Fulani during the deadly invasion, leaving no doubt about their identity. He noted that although he had lived peacefully with the residents for 32 years, the perpetrators refused to listen to him when he intervened.
According to his account, as the gunmen stormed the community, vulnerable residents sought refuge in his home, pleading for protection. The elder said he confronted the attackers, speaking their dialect and questioning why they wanted to kill people he considered “friends and family.”
However, the militants dismissed his appeals and threatened to kill him if he did not step aside. They forcefully pushed him away and continued their operation, killing 46 people—mostly Christians—and burning homes in the process.
He expressed deep sorrow that the attackers were his own tribesmen, lamenting that they rejected his pleas to spare the community where he had built strong relationships over the years.
Notably, during the attack no Muslim or Fulani resident was harmed, reinforcing concerns about religiously motivated assaults attributed to Fulani militants in the Middle Belt—distinct from the insurgency in the Northeast and the banditry in the Northwest, both of which also disproportionately target Christians and minority groups.
Recounting the incident, the elder said:
“I heard them speaking fluent Fulani language… Women were running to my house, begging me to rescue them. If I had the power, I would have done so. I have lived with these people for many years—they have become my family. When the attackers regrouped and started shooting, we all hid in one room while they continued killing many people.”