Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has apologised to the community severally attacked by bandits in the state. At least 50 residents were reportedly killed after gunmen recently invaded Kimakpa village, Miango District in Bassa Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.

The attack came barely two weeks after gunmen invaded and killed many residents in five communities in Bokkos and Mangu LGAs, on April 2.

Speaking yesterday during his visit to Ronku Aka, the paramount ruler of Irigwe land, Mutfwang said the government has failed in its duty of protecting the lives of its citizens. “I will tell you the truth – I have been crying since yesterday because I had trusted God that all the arrangements were put in place, that this will not happen again.

We have made investments in security,” Mutfwang said. The governor noted that although the state had implemented security measures to safeguard lives and property, they proved insufficient to prevent the incidents.

He assured residents that the state is doing everything possible to prevent the recurrence of such incidents and to also bring the perpetrators to book.

“But like all human arrangements, sometimes they fail. I want to admit that on Sunday night into Monday morning, we failed you. Please, forgive me,” the governor added.

“Security is everyone’s responsibility. We are working to reinforce intelligence gathering and rapid response, but we need communities to remain alert and cooperative.”

Meanwhile, a human security expert, Major Adebayo Adeleke (rtd), has called for a restructuring of Nigeria’s security architecture to address the killings in Benue and Plateau states.

Adeleke, who described the situation in the two North Central states as disheartening, said the current security architecture had failed.

“The security architecture that we have in Nigeria has failed Benue and Plateau states,” he said while speaking on Channels Television’s “The Morning Brief” yesterday.