A DAY after gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen massacred local residents of a Plateau State community near the restive city of Jos, a leading politician and federal senator, Mr. Gyang Dalypop Dantong who represents Plateau North Senatorial District in the Senate was on Sunday shot dead by gunmen whose identities are yet to be identified.
Senator Datong was attending a mass burial ceremony of constituents of Riyom and Barikin Ladi Local Government Areas of the state, who were killed in an attack the on the previous day, when Sunday’s attack occurred.
Government sources also say another legislator, the majority leader of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr. Gyang Fulani, was also killed in Sunday’s attack.
The official number of Saturday’s death was put at 37, but witnesses on ground to witness Sunday’s mass burial say that as many as 63 people may have lost their lives to the unprovoked attack from the suspected Fulani herdsmen who stole into the communities dressed and armed to kill innocent residents.
A statement from the Plateau State Commissioner from Information, Abraham Yiljap confirmed the death of Mr. Datong, who has been a member of the Senate of the Federal Republic since 2007. He was re-elected in 2011 to serve another 4-year.
“The senator representing Plateau north, Gyang Dantong, and the majority leader of the state assembly, Gyang Fulani, were gunned down today by Fulani herdsmen,” said Pam Ayuba, spokesman for Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang.
After attending Sunday’s mass burial, the two officials went to a reception at the home of another local leader in the state’s Gashis district, roughly 90 kilometres (56 miles) from the capital Jos, Ayuba said.
“The Fulani herdsmen raided the house…they shot (the politicians) and some others but the key people who lost their lives are the senator and the majority leader,” he explained, saying he did not know the total number of casualties.
Another federal lawmaker “escaped death by a whisker,” he added.
Ayuba said the Fulani were likely inspired by their resentment for the state’s Christian political leadership.
The two victims of the Sunday attack were members of the mostly Christian Birom ethnic group, as were the 23 people killed in the Saturday raid.