[ad_1]
The dark memories of September 11, 2001 make a special chord with the Nigerians who lost everything on the same day in the idyllic hilltop town of Lancome, south of Joss.
The brutal killing of 200 Christians by Fula militants, unnoticed by the Nigerian media and overshadowed by sensational attacks in the United States, is a tragic memory for survivors uncompensated by the Nigerian government. I’m continuing. According to human rights lawyer Solomon Daryeop, today the former wealthy agricultural town of Lancome has been renamed “Mahanga” and transformed into an armed Muslim zone.
“Mahanga was the result of the invasion of armed Fula militias,” Daryeop told the Epoch Times.
Dalyop is a student living in the neighboring town of Jol, and I remember seeing a dark cloud of smoke rising from Rankum that day. “It was one of the richest places in the plateau. Due to the income from fertile fields and abundant streams, the inhabitants are millionaires by today’s standards, which is both agriculture and cattle breeding. He said it was profitable.
Hundreds of terrorists armed with AK-47 rifles attacked Lancome and its neighboring villages on the night of September 11, 2001, killing nearly 200 people, according to former Lancum Mayor Stephen Jug. bottom.
“They came around 7:30 pm, shot the house, burned it, and plundered what was visible,” he told The Epoch Times. “Some of them had guns, others had petrol to burn their homes. They killed my nephew and uncle, but we were in the next village. We couldn’t come back because they fled to and to this day they settled there and took over it to become their own. “
Immediately after the attack, Lancome was renamed Mahanga. This means “watchtower” in the terrorist Furani dialect, Jug said.
The town’s terrorist takeover was not opposed by federal authorities and was never reversed by plateau authorities. On the contrary, according to Christian Solidarity International, the so-called land acquisition by the militia was a precursor to similar takeovers throughout the state and in neighboring Kaduna, Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba and Niger. Since 2001, more than 380 Christian communities have been annexed. Many were renamed by extremist conquerors.
Newly named Mahanga [Rankum] Simon Mwadkon, head of Riyom County in the Nigerian Legislative Chamber, said it is currently the scene of a Fula militant massacre in the central and northwestern regions. “All attacks by the Plateau and subsequent Fula people are usually coordinated from Mahanga,” Mwadkon told The Epoch Times. “It’s where they camp and train most of their militias, and no attacks will occur in this area without Mahanga playing a role,” he said.
“I saw them myself and was personally attacked by terrorists from the Mahanga area. [security forces], They ran towards the community, and no one else lives there.
“I have shouted against the emergence of terrorist elements in the community since I chaired the municipality (county) in 2010, but no one was listening to me,” he said. ..
Timothy Danton, a highland parliamentarian in Riyom, said the attack was primarily to seize land to expel people of different ethnicities. “Because they are based in that community and are launching attacks on other communities. [the land] Danton told the Epoch Times. “My people and members are surrounded by Fula terrorists.”
Lancome was captured in Plateau alone, according to Dalyop, who is also the CEO of the Crisis Victims Liberation Center (ECCVN) in Nigeria, a local non-governmental organization tracking Fula terrorist attacks. Since then, more than 10,000 people have been killed. .. Since 2001, the Fula have killed more than 60,000 people in Nigeria, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).
[ad_2]