The attacks, which happened on Sunday, were carried out in Kukawa, Gyambawu, Dungur, Kyaram, Yelwa, Dadda, Wanka, Shuwaka, Gwammadaji, and Dadin Kowa communities of the state.
President Muhammadu Buhari has described the killings of innocent residents of communities in Wase and Kananm local government areas of Plateau state as heinous, vowing that the perpetrators must be identified and punished.
This is even as the President also mourned the victims of a boat accident in Gidan Magana in Shagari local government area of Sokoto State.
Premium Times reported how gunmen killed at least 142 persons in fresh attacks on some communities in Kanam and Wase Local Government Areas of Plateau State, North-central Nigeria.
The attacks, which happened on Sunday, were carried out in Kukawa, Gyambawu, Dungur, Kyaram, Yelwa, Dadda, Wanka, Shuwaka, Gwammadaji, and Dadin Kowa communities of the state.
The two local governments share boundaries but are not in the same senatorial districts.
No fewer than 29 people died in the boat mishap in Sokoto State.
The victims, mostly children and women, were crossing the river to fetch firewood when the boat they were on capsized, the head of the village said.
Buhari reacts
In two separate statements signed by his media aide, Garba Shehu, Mr Buhari expressed sadness over the attacks and the boat accident.
Mr Buhari extended “condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the devastating incident, particularly the village head of Gidan Magana, Malam Muhammadu Auwal, who lost five of his children in the mishap.”
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The President also directed the “Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to increase ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of riverine travel in the country.
On the Plateau state attacks, Mr Buhari vowed that the perpetrators of the heinous attacks would not get mercy.
“They should not be spared or forgiven,” he said.
Mr Shehu said, “ordered law enforcement agencies to work strenuously with the government of the state, to bring the situation under control and take steps to bring the culprits to justice quickly.
“President Buhari expressed condolences over the terrorist incident, saying that as a matter of priority, peace must return at all costs to the state and the entire country.
“I urge all our citizens, the people of Plateau State in particular, to expose the perpetrators of such incidents, their sponsors and those who encourage such criminals who carry out these dastardly acts of murder so that the law will take its course. They must not be forgiven,” he added.
Plateau State, situated in the central part of the country, has been the theatre of age-long communal and religious clashes among neighbouring ethnic groups in the area.
