The Nigerian Baptist Convention, on Monday, decried the killing of its members during attacks by gunmen in Plateau State.

The church called on the feuding parties to halt the trend of attacks, especially in the Bassa Local Government Area of the state

Making the call at a press conference in Jos on Monday, the President, Baptist Conference in Plateau State, Dr K. K. Saleh, noted that during the last attack in the Ancha community, Bassa Local Government Area of the state, where 18 persons were killed last week, 16 of the victims were members of the church.

Saleh, who condemned the killings, said it was unfortunate that attacks of such magnitude had continued to occur in Bassa communities despite the presence of the 3 Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army, whose headquarters is located in the area.

The cleric renewed the call for the redeployment of the General Officer Commanding, 3 Armoured Division, Major General Ibrahim Ali, saying his best was not good for the host communities and the people.

The Baptist President said, “As a church, we are worried by the continuous killings in the Bassa LGA. During the latest attack on the Ancha community in the Bassa LGA, we discovered that 16 out of the 18 persons killed were members of our church .Before now, we had lost 19 persons in the same church in the community through similar attacks and nobody is being held responsible.

“We are happy that during the latest attack, Mr President, Muhammdu Buhari, did not wait for too long before reacting to the killings in Bassa and he rightly said that the crisis in the LGA had to do with the Irigwe and the Fulani living in that area. We are happy because for the first time, he made it clear that it was not a case of faceless bandits or unknown gunmen, which means that the perpetrators of the killings are known people.

“And we have a question for the state government; at a time similar killings happened in the Mangu LGA of Plateau State, some chiefs and leaders were arrested and since then, we never had carnage of that magnitude in that axis of the state. Why can’t the government do a similar thing for the Irigwe and Fulani living in Bassa so that the people can have peace?

“We think that it is the responsibility of the government to put the two communities to task to resolve the issues and if they cannot, they should be held responsible for the senseless killings going on in the LGA.” (The PUNCH: Excludes headline)

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