Life has no meaning any more for 94-year-old Adamu Rangu, whose family members were wiped out when suspected Fulani herdsmen invaded Nkyie Doghwro village in Irigwe Chiefdom of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State on Monday October 16, 2017, leaving behind 29 persons dead.
Though the aged man survived the gruesome killing, seven members of his family perished in the attack at the two-classroom block of primary school in Nkyie Doghwro where women, children and the weak were taking refuge for fear of Fulani herdsmen invasion of the village.
Right now, Adamu is helpless and hopeless; he is a living dead and a walking corpse as he watched in tears and utter disbelief how the lifeless bodies of seven members of his family were wrapped in their pool of blood when the dead were buried in one grave.
He lost his aged wife Tabitha, two children; Bala and Ishaya as well as four grandchildren who were taking refuge at the primary school, where men of the Special Task Force in charge of internal security in Jos and environs were on guard.
How he escaped death
Adamu opted not to sleep in the classroom but remained in his house close to the school that fateful night when he watched helplessly as the gunmen rained hot bullets on his family and other victims. The cries for help and unending grief of his wife, children and grandchildren will ever remain green in his memory.
The aged man is left to fend for himself as all he laboured for in his 94 years was wiped out within a twinkling of an eye. Our reporter had an encounter with Adamu shortly after the mass burial of the victims, dragging his feet as women and children fled the village to Jos city for safety.
Adamu, who lacks the strength to move fast was conveyed with his loads to Miango by some good Samaritans when people were fleeing the village on hearing rumour of another imminent attack.
"I have never seen a thing like this. Why will this kind of thing happen to me at my old age? Where am I going now? I have lost all I laboured for, my children were my greatest assets and they were all killed in a day.
"I was told to go to the classroom but I couldn't go in immediately, I don't know what held me back at home, I prefer to have died than losing my wife, children and grandchildren in that manner, where will I start from, who do I go to now?"
Another pathetic case
The case of 45-year-old Lami Danladi, a mother of four, is equally very pathetic. Luckily, she survived four gunshots while struggling with her children for escape from the classroom of death.
She lost three of her children; Queen 10, Friday 7, and two-year-old Mary who was shot in the back that fateful night. In addition, Lami lost her husband, Danladi Ishaya who was also inside the classroom while only five-year-old Victoria who had gone to Miango town, escaped death beside her mother from the family.
Lami who is nursing gunshot injuries at Enos hospital, Miango, recalls that five days after killing of three persons in the neighbouring village of Nzhweruvo, the villagers converged at a primary school in the village for protection under the watch of the Special Task Force (STF) due to lack of proximity of households in the village.
Some households who had relations in Miango town had fled from the village when harbingers of horror came calling at about 8pm, shooting directly into the classroom where over 60 persons were sleeping.
"I was inside the class with my three children and husband. I did not know what happened, suddenly I heard gunshots directly inside the classroom, women and children were crying as they ran to escape.
"I took my two-year-old daughter, Mary and backed her while the gunmen were firing directly towards my location, I hid myself with the school desk and was able to come out through the door, I started running with the child on my back, unfortunately, one of the attackers heard my foot step and shot directly at me, the bullet penetrated through my shoulder and killed my child on my back.
"I didn't know that my husband was already killed, my two children in the classroom became helpless, they died of gunshot injures. I don't want to recall this horrible experience, I was shot four times and none of the bullets got me well, they pierced my skin and I was taken to the hospital."
Source: The Sun
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