Survivor narrates how Senator, others died in Jos

SENATOR Gyang Dantong might have died of exhaustion, a survivor of Sunday’s attack on participants at a mass burial in Matse, Jos, Mr. Simon Mwadkon, said on Monday.
Mwadkon, a member of the House of Representatives, who narrated how the Senator died to Governor Jonah Jang in Jos, said gunmen, suspected to be Fulani herdsmen, “started shooting, (at the burial), forcing everyone to abandon the corpses and scurry to safety.”
According to Mwadkon , while running for dear lives, Dantong; the Majority Leader in the state House of Assembly, Gyang Fulani; and Mwadkon himself were said to have slumped.
But while Mwadkom was revived, both the Senator and the state lawmaker died.
He narrated, “We were at the burial ground preparing to bury the victims of a massive attack on the villages when the gunmen started shooting, forcing everyone to abandon the corpses and scurry to safety.
“Everyone was racing away, but the Senator slumped first and there was a rush to take him.”
The federal lawmaker described the persistent killings in an area under a state of emergency imposed by the Federal Government as “very outrageous and embarrassing.’
He said that hundreds of villagers had been killed in the past few months, stressing that in some cases, whole villages were wiped out in such attacks.
Mwadkon however called on the Federal Government to protect the villagers as they remain vulnerable to attacks every day.

Sequel to weekend’s bloody attacks in Plateau State, President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday held an emergency meeting with security chiefs at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
But none of the participants at the meeting spoke to journalists after the session.
When approached, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, referred journalists to the National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
Dasuki in turn referred journalists back to Petinrin for comment.
“Is that what the CDS said? That I am the one to talk? Ok. I am now saying ‘go back to the CDS.’”
When told that the CDS had left the State House, Dasuki kept mum and forced his way into his waiting car with the aid of his security detail.
While making his way into the car, a journalist asked for the latest on the killing of the lawmakers to which the NSA responded, “Is that what happened? No, that was not what happened.” And his driver sped off.

PUNCH NEWSPAPER