Prominent cleric says locals collude with herders to unleash mayhem in Plateau

A prominent Northern Christian cleric, Prophet Isa El-Buba, has alleged that foreign terrorists are colluding with some local herders to unleash violent attacks, leading to the displacement of communities and the occupation of their ancestral lands in Plateau State.

The revered cleric disclosed this while raising the alarm over what he described as an ongoing genocide in the North-Central following renewed attacks and killings in Bokkos and Basa Local Government Areas (LGAs).

He spoke during an appearance on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande on Friday, April 18, 2025, a socio-political programme aired on Channels Television.

“These are not the local herders that we used to know. These are Fulani terrorists who target communities. When these terrorists come in, they connive with some of the locals.

”They give them information. They come in from outside and they invade,” he said.

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The Jos-based cleric strongly supported the recent assertion by Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, that the attacks in the state amount to genocide.

El-Buba, an indigene of Borno State, further argued that the repeated and coordinated nature of the recent killings on the Plateau indicates a well-orchestrated plan to stoke destabilisation in the region and ultimately reconfigure its demographic and territorial identity.

“Just like the Governor said: it’s a genocide. It’s not something that just happened. It’s been happening with several attacks in the past and recently, what has happened on the Plateau.

“You know very well that Plateau is cosmopolitan. It houses virtually all Nigerians. And if anything goes wrong with Plateau, everything goes wrong with Nigeria,” he observed.

Cleric warns against fragile unity in Nigeria

El-Buba warned that, if no urgent interventions are made, the Plateau situation could put the country's unity in jeopardy.

“If there is no intervention, there is a bleak future for this country will stand together. We are actually in a very serious time in the history of this country,” he warned.

He highlighted the disturbing reality that over 600 communities in the state have been attacked, with their inhabitants killed or displaced and properties destroyed, while the attackers now reside in the conquered communities.

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“In some of the communities that were attacked—over 60 of them—the people who attacked those communities displaced the people, killed them, destroyed their properties and now occupy those communities. This tells you a lot about what these people are up to,” he stated.

He alleged that the perpetrators feel emboldened due to perceived protection during the previous administration, insisting that the traditional Fulani herders known to local communities are not responsible for the violence, but the armed foreign Fulani extremists with a deliberate plan.

“In the past administration, these people felt it was their government. They felt protected. These people move with arms. I raised an alarm, called on the then president to speak to his own people in his own dialect,” he added.