January 07, (THEWILL) – The embattled Chairman of Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, Gideon Davou Dandereng, has said that the killings in Plateau State communities were sponsored by high profile Nigerians for land acquisition purposes.
Dandereng made this known in a meeting with journalists at his Rantya residence in Jos South LGA, Plateau State. He said that while many of the attackers were criminals, there was notable evidence that the mission was aimed at dominating the economic space of the state and displacing communities from their ancestral homes.
He said, “Apart from the criminal aspect, the spree of attacks and killings of innocent people of Plateau State has a long- term plan underground to overrun the state and take over the land.
“I want to say this without fear or favour that this is not about criminality but land grabbing and to take over the control of the economy of the people after displacing them from their ancestral homeland.”
Dandereng maintained that the non-state actors involved in the killings were sponsored by high-profile Nigerians.
He emphasised that mining activities in the state and by extension, in Nigeria as awhole are being targeted and hijacked by foreigners, which is a clear indication that the Middle Belt region is technically under threats of attacks.
On whether he was collaborating with his counterparts in government in the state to tackle the problems head on, the Chairman of Jos South LGA, who is among his colleagues challenging their unlawful removal as democratically elected chairmen of their respective local government areas , answered that though ethnic diversity in the country may pose a major stumbling block to addressing the challenges, “we all have a duty to be patriotic and call a spade a spade so that we can move forward as a nation.”
