Pregnant Woman Who Climbed Tree To Escape Fulani Herdsmen Attack In Plateau State Recounts Ordeal

Meet Ruth Naomi, a heavily pregnant woman who escaped death by  whisker last week after she summoned courage to climb a tree as killer Fulani Herdsmen were chasing her and other villagers in Bassa Local Government area of Plateau state.

Here is her testimony:

“God rescued me by forcing me to climb a tree while the Fulani men were pursuing us in the bush. I noticed that shortly after they started pursuing us, they diverted their attention away from me and went after the other people. That gave me an opportunity to climb a tree willy-nilly.

“I had never climbed a tree in my life. So, how I got the courage to climb the tree is still baffling me. When the gunmen were through with the others, they came back and started looking for me, but I was at the top of a tree, watching them. Luckily for me, none of them looked up, probably because they never thought I could climb a tree in my condition. It was God that saved me.”

Thousands of residents in the affected communities in Bokkos and Bassa local government areas have been rendered homeless following the destruction of their homes, leaving many to ask: “Where is government in all this?”

Israel Akwu, a resident of Kwall in Bassa LGA, wondered why government no longer seemed to care for the lives of its citizens, saying:

“Our people are being killed every day by armed men, but government, whose primary responsibility is to protect lives and property, is not living up to its responsibility. We have a democratic government in place in the state. The people being killed are the people that voted the government, and they are the same people that will vote in 2019. Why is it that difficult for government to protect its own people?”

Women protesting Fulani massacre in Plateau

Joshua Kawu, whose younger brother was killed in the last attack, said:

“We are facing the most terrible situation in our lives at the moment. Our villages are under siege. Even on the day Mr. President visited the state last week, we were under severe attack by gunmen, but the governor gave Mr. President the impression that there was normalcy in the state. Who do we cry to now?”