Herdsmen attack killed children and grandchildren of an innocent widow in plateau state

An innocent widow is currently mourning the death of her children and grandchildren who were killed by the terrorist group, the Fulani herdsmen in Plateau state.


Martha Ishaya a 68 year old widow who lost her husband years ago, lost her children in two separate attacks.

Three of her grandchildren were killed when the terrorist group  attacked Datanko village of Miango District of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State on March 8, 2018, as four persons lost their lives as a result of the attack. 

The painful and sad incident which rendered so many persons homeless and childless, occurred on the day President Muhammad Buhari visited the people of Plateau state on a two-day working visit.


The herdsmen cut off the head of Mrs Ishaya’s grandchildren with a machete during the attack in Datanko village. The grandchildren have been identified as Emmanuel Joseph, 16 yesrs old; Christopher Joseph, 16; (who were twins) and Peace Joseph, 6.

The teenage children were all murdered right in their house while their parents who had escaped into the bush, watched helplessly from a distance as the head of their children was chopped off, Sun News reports.


After the brutal killing by the herdsmen, Mrs Ishaya and a group of other Irigwe women from Miango District who too were affected and left homeless as a result of the terrorist attacks converged on March 13, 2018, at Gada-Biyu in Jos North Local Government Area by 6:30a.m to march on major streets as they mourn the death of the innocent little kids as they protested to the JUTH Mortuary to convey the corpses of the children for mass burial.

But as the women marched in black clothes to mourn the untimely deaths of their children, little did they know that another attack was going on in a neighbouring community where most of their people had relocated to after being displaced as a result of the first incessant attacks by the Fulani group. 

This time, 25 lives were lost to the attack. 

The widow, Mrs Ishaya almost cried herself to death when she found out that two of her children, Dauda Ishaya and Yahanna Ishaya, who had just completed their houses at Dundu village in Kwall Chiefdom of Miango Distinct, had died in the second attack by the terrorist group. Most of the victims where shoot before their bodies were butchered with machetes.

Mrs Ishaya, who lost her husband some years back lamented: “What have I done to deserve what is happening to me? Who have i offended that this great calamity has befall me. The Fulani herdsmen have taken my only joy, they have ruined my life, they have robbed me of all I have; I am finished. God help me, I need your divine intervention, show your mercy.”

Mrs Ishaya is currently at her relations and house in Miango town because her house was burnt by the herdsman during the attack and the entire village displaced. She currently can't afford meals and a roof over her as she lost all she ever had and she's currently begging for food and shelter to survive. This she does on a daily basics. 

A four-year-old boy, Chenka Amos, one of the children who survived the attack. Is lying critically ill at Enos Private Hospital Miango as he barely escaped been killed by the terrorist group. He was shot and butchered  but somehow he survived with machete injuries all over his head, Sun reports.


An eyewitness and  a resident at Miango District, Zango Lawrence Nebanat, the publicity secretary of Miango Youth Development Association, narrated the various attacks and casualties that the people of Miango has suffered between the month of January and March 14, 2018. He also revealed that not less than 125 persons have been killed, 863 villagers have been destroyed and several persons wounded.

According to him:
“More than 26 villages were attacked, 125 persons lost their life, 44 people were left injured,not less than 863 houses razed down with food bans, 347 farm land produce worth millions of naira destroyed, 15 motorbikes, a bus, 24 irrigation water pumps burnt, more than 23,000 IDPs recorded, including men, women, children and the aged including those with disabilities. While an estimated number of property worth billions of naira were lost. “These attacks by the Fulani herdsmen began in Ncha village on 7th September, 2017 with the brutal killings of more than 20 people, mostly made up of women and children while they were asleep. Houses were also burnt down completely. Since the day this killings started, peace has eluded the Irigwe nation. “Ever since the first incident in Ncha, the terrorist have continued to carry out their killings at night and also, unexpected attacks in other communities in line with their threat that Ncha killing was just the beginning. We have continually woken up to news of the killing of innocent people while they're asleep, leaving tears, sorrow, despair and a void in the heart ot those that were affected.”

Comrade Nabanat pleads with the Federal Government to include Plateau among the states in the North Central that needs urgent security attention or preferably a  state of emergency to ensure safety of the lives of Nigerians occupying the area.