Eight people were killed when armed attackers invaded Mbwelle village in Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State on Thursday night. The shooting began around 11pm and lasted nearly an hour, according to local sources. Most of the victims belonged to the same family. Those confirmed dead are Elder Iliya Mangut Dakus, Mr. Luck Titus Dakus, Mr. Habila Istifanu Dakus, Mr. Hassan Istifanus Dakus, Mrs. Hassan Moses Dakus, Biggie Lucky Dakus, Sunday Gideon Dakus, and Mr. Innocent Barnabas Makwin. Three others were injured, and some residents remain missing.
Kefas Mallai, Chairman of the Community Peace Observers in Bokkos, confirmed the attack and said security forces did not respond during the incident. He noted that Mbwelle is close to Bokkos town and criticised the absence of security personnel despite the area's vulnerability. Mallai claimed that security operatives are instead deployed to protect a community locals believe is linked to the attackers. Christopher Luka, Youth Leader of Bokkos, described the attack as devastating and confirmed the gunmen targeted one family. Attempts to reach DSP Alfred Alabo, spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, were unsuccessful at the time of reporting.
Kefas Mallai's allegation that security forces were absent during the attack while being stationed elsewhere strikes at the heart of growing distrust in official protection mechanisms. The claim that troops were deployed to shield a community suspected of harboring attackers, while Mbwelle was left exposed, suggests a dangerous imbalance in security prioritisation that mirrors long-standing local grievances.
This incident does not occur in isolation. Bokkos has a history of communal tensions where perceived state bias in security deployment fuels resentment. The fact that eight members of one family were wiped out in a sustained assault, with no intervention, points to either a failure in operational response or a deliberate neglect that communities are no longer willing to accept silently. The planned protest is not just about mourning—it is a signal of eroding confidence in state protection.
Ordinary residents of Mbwelle and surrounding villages now live with the fear that they are expendable in the calculus of security strategy. When a community is left undefended during a prolonged attack, the psychological and physical toll extends beyond the dead and injured—it destabilises the entire social fabric.
This pattern of lopsided security presence amid recurring violence reflects a broader crisis in how safety is administered in Nigeria's conflict-prone zones.
