By Palang Paul
Plateau State Governor, Barrister Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, has dismissed the widespread narrative that the wave of violence in the state is rooted in farmers–herders clashes. According to him, the attacks are not communal disputes but calculated acts of banditry and land-grabbing aimed at displacing indigenous communities.
The governor made this declaration in the wake of the recent attack on Ndimar community in Ik’ngwakap, Mushere District of Bokkos Local Government Area. He spoke during an event where he hosted the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), led by former Senate President Ken Nnamani.
Governor Mutfwang stressed that continuing to frame the crisis as farmers–herders clashes, as some media outlets have reported, only misrepresents the true nature of the conflict and undermines efforts to find lasting solutions. TVC News correspondent Funom Joshua, reporting from the event, also emphasized that the insecurity must be properly identified as banditry and land-grabbing if real progress is to be made.
The governor commended NIPSS for embarking on a fact-finding mission to uncover the root causes of the Plateau crisis. The Institute, in turn, assured him of its commitment to working closely with the state government to end the cycle of violence.
The continued invasion of communities in Plateau State poses a direct threat to Nigeria’s sovereignty. Treating the crisis with “soft hands,” would only embolden the perpetrators and prolong the suffering of innocent citizens.
By reframing the conflict as a national security threat rather than a local dispute, the governor called for urgent, decisive action to restore peace and protect the ancestral lands of Plateau’s communities.
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