Gunmen kill five in Plateau, Yobe, injure others

PANDEMONIUM broke out in Riyom local council area of Plateau State Tuesday following the killing of four residents of the area by gunmen who fired at a moving vehicle at a close range.

Besides, violence erupted again at Ngelzarma in Yobe State, as gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram ambushed two patrol vehicles of the Joint Task Force (JTF) with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), killing a soldier and injuring two others at about 8.30 p.m. on Monday.

It was learnt that some people were travelling in a vehicle along Fang village of Riyom council in Plateau State around 6.00 a.m. yesterday when the gunmen who had positioned themselves along the road shot at them and killed four instantly while two other occupants sustained injuries.

The Majority Leader of the State House of Assembly, Daniel Dem, who hails from the local council told journalists that four out of the seven people on the bus were shot while the assailants ensured that they were dead before they disappeared. He added that the incident was a surprise to the people considering the gradual return of peace to the area after several months of hostility.

According to him, those killed in the unfortunate incident included the driver, Markus Davou; Gyang Pius; Yohanna Bature and Monday Kentong, while two other passengers identified as Samuel Umaru and Kaneng Pius were injured and now receiving treatment.

The entire local council was thrown into confusion while the youths in the area trooped out in the early hours of yesterday to protest against the killing.   They were about carrying the bodies to the Government House to lodge their protest before they were prevailed upon to desist from such a move by some elders.

The Spokesman of the Special Task Force (STF), Captain Salisu Ibrahim Mustapha, who confirmed the killing, added that four among those on the bus were killed by the gunmen. He called on residents of the locality to be calm, adding that an investigation was on to bring the culprits to book.

According to JTF sources in Yobe State, gunmen came on four motorcycles to ambush the patrol vehicles at a food canteen.

Ngelzarma is 50 kilometres west of Damaturu, the state capital, and one of the centres of the activities of Boko Haram.

The soldiers, according to an eyewitness, went to a restaurant to buy food, when a gang of armed men threw IEDs at the patrol vehicle, but missed it with the vehicle ramming into a ditch on the Damaturu-Potiskum road.

Piqued by the attacks, the soldiers were according to Audu Isa, a resident, set ablaze 20 shops and a house belonging to a 60-year-old farmer at 8.30 p.m.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Isa said: “The people in Ngelzarma last night were terrified and shocked with the multiple attacks and explosions that rent the town till the dawn of Tuesday.

We had to close our houses for safety, as we don’t know the next targets of these gunmen.”

Some of the residents that were caught in the attacks and bombings had to flee to nearby villages for safety.

The incident was confirmed yesterday in Damaturu by the Yobe State Police Command spokesman, Salisu Adamu, who said that suspected gunmen on four motorcycles ambushed the patrol team of the JTF at a restaurant at Ngelzarma on Monday at about 8.30 p.m. and threw IEDS and petrol-bombs at the vehicles.

He said the JTF and the police had arrested 40 suspects.

Meanwhile, an oil sector player and public affairs commentator, Mr. Daniel Odiase, has warned that pervasive poverty could lead to the country’s disintegration.

“An armed struggle by the poor is imminent if we the business and political elite do not tackle poverty and reduce it to the barest level,” he said in a chat with The Guardian yesterday.

“I envisage that different groups of armed insurgents and bandits would roam the country and ultimately engender its disintegration. Armed bands of 50,100 or more people can hold communities to ransom.”