Over the last 48 hours, we have received disturbing reports of massacres of defenceless villagers in Bokkos and Mangu Plateau State, Nigeria - in areas where PSJUK volunteers have been providing food relief support this Christmas weekend.
Some reports say that hundreds of unarmed civilians including women and children have been killed in what appears as a well coordinated operation. These condemnable attacks were carried out against innocent unarmed simple people waiting to join the rest of the nation to celebrate Christmas.
Since news of the attacks broke, we at PSJ UK have been inundated with calls for information on the attacks.
Most calls have come from people who knew that over the Christmas period, PSJ UK was in at least three Nigerian states, including the Plateau to deliver food items to thousands of orphans and widowed families from previous attacks.
At PSJ UK, we wish to inform all who supported us in the food drive, the media and the general public that PSJ staff and volunteers involved in the Plateau distribution had recently left the place before the attacks by marauding militiamen.
This knowledge has however not lessened our pain knowing that some of the people our volunteers met with last week were not spared in the new spate of violence.
We shall continue to advocate for peace and stability in the Middlebelt of Nigeria. We believe that peace in the middle belt will greatly translate to peace in Nigeria.
In the meantime we urge lovers of peace to continue to work together and pray for lasting peace in Nigeria and the Middlebelt in particular.