By: Zagazola Makama
Atleast seven youths have been killed at a Tin mining site in Gakok area of Kuru community, Barikin Ladi in Jos South LGA of Plateau State in response to the attack and theft of 102 livestock belonging to pastoralist.
On Wednesday, gunmen struck at dawn in Gakok, mowing down young men who had gone to earn a living at a legal mining site. The Plateau Youth Council (PYC), Jos South LGA Chapter, described the victims as “hardworking youths” whose lives were “brutally cut short” by suspected armed herdsmen.
In a statement signed by its Secretary-General, Comr. Gyang Sunday Pwajok on Thursday, the council described the incident as “gruesome and senseless,” and blamed suspected armed herdsmen for the attack.
“This tragic incident further deepens the pain, fear and anger of our people, as Plateau State continues to witness an unending cycle of orchestrated violence and bloodshed. The persistent wave of killings is deeply disturbing and unacceptable,” the statement read.
Their statement did more than mourn: it demanded urgent regulation of mining sites, stronger security coordination, and a ban on night mining, recognition that poorly governed spaces have become killing fields.
The brutal killing was the latest in a spiral of violence in plateau in what began as disputes over land and livelihoods has metastasized into a tit-for-tat pattern where cattle rustling, livestock poisoning and armed raids trigger swift reprisals, dragging entire communities into a vortex of fear. Gakok attack did not erupt in isolation. It is the tragic crest of a wave that has been rising across the Barkin Ladi–Riyom–Jos South axis for weeks.
The current escalation tracks back to Wednesday, Jan. 14, when no fewer than 102 cows were rustled at Dan Sokoto in Ganawuri District, Riyom LGA. Witnesses said armed men suspected to be Berom Militia stormed the area in broad daylight, forcing herders to flee and driving the cattle away at gunpoint. The animals reportedly belonged to two pastoral families from Jos East, but were seized in Ganawuri, an inter-LGA fault line that complicated response and recovery.
Local accounts allege the attackers came from Vom District in Jos South. The Dan Sokoto raid was not an aberration. In the same month, at least seven cows were poisoned in Kwi village (Riyom LGA), while three others were shot dead near Kuru Gadabiyu in Barkin Ladi. Each incident deepened attacks and retaliation.
Days after the Dan Sokoto rustling, violence crossed from fields to homes. In the early hours of Saturday, at about 2:30 a.m., gunmen attacked Kasuwa Denkeli village in Barkin Ladi LGA. One person was killed on the spot; two others sustained gunshot wounds and were rushed to the Jos University Teaching Hospital. Police confirmed the incident, said a team led by the DPO moved to the scene, and announced an investigation to track the perpetrators. Residents linked the assault to retaliation over the stolen cattle in neighbouring Riyom.
This pattern attack on herds, reprisal on villages has repeated with grim regularity. On Jan. 6, coordinated attacks on Jol community in Riyom and Gero in Gyel District of Jos South left three people dead. The violence followed the shooting of two Fulani youths earlier that day in Jos South, one of whom later died. Witnesses described the ambush as unprovoked. What followed was swift retaliation and counter-retaliation, with communities caught in the crossfire.
The warning signs were already flashing in December. On Dec. 12, more than 130 cattle were reportedly rustled in Nding community. Around the same period, livestock poisoning was recorded in parts of Jos East and Riyom LGAs. Those incidents were followed by deadly clashes, including the killing of four children in Dorong village, Barkin Ladi LGA, and attacks on Gero that left deaths, injuries and the loss of more livestock.
On Dec. 16, an attack on an illegal mining site in Tosho, Barkin Ladi LGA, left 12 miners dead and others abducted. Security sources linked the violence to earlier rustling of 171 cattle belonging to Fulani. Again, a familiar sequence: cattle taken, emotions inflamed, guns answer.
Across Barkin Ladi, Riyom and Jos South, residents now speak of “no-go” zones. Areas like Vwang in Jos South and parts of Fan District in Barkin Ladi are whispered about as holding grounds for rustled cattle belonging to the Fulani.The claims, wether true or not, reinforce suspicion and hinder cooperation. Recovery becomes harder; rumours spread faster than facts.
Security agencies respond to each incident, but the terrain is complex, in most cases lacked accessibility by roads. Attackers move across forested LGA lines; victims come from multiple communities; reprisals target the nearest symbol of “the other.” Investigations start, but arrests lag. In the absence of swift, impartial justice, communities seek their own.
The through-line is unmistakable: attacks on pastoralist livelihoods ignite attacks on lives. Cattle rustling and poisoning are not isolated crimes. The perpetrators are known and they came from within the society and they are the accelerants in the landscape primed for reprisal. Mining sites, when left unregulated, become flashpoints. Each incident becomes the justification for the next.
The plateau state government had remained largely silent while violence continued to claim lives across Jos South, Riyom and Barkin Ladi LGAs and other part of the state. The government is treating dialogue with Fulani communities as “selling out,” rather than as a necessary step toward de-escalation and peace-building. Instead of opening channels of communication and trust, the government has chosen silence and dangerous political games.
Non-kinetic approaches such as inclusive dialogue, reconciliation, intelligence-driven community policing and traditional conflict-resolution mechanisms were essential to breaking the cycle of attacks and reprisals in the state. The continued reliance on force alone, without parallel political and social engagement, had failed to address the root causes of the crisis, deepen suspicion and prolong the violence in Plateau state.
Zagazola Makama is a Counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad region
