Mwaghavul Group Rejects Land Claim Narratives, Says Kikyau Killing Part of Wider Attacks in Mangu

Our Reporter

The Mwaghavul Development Association (MDA) has dismissed as misleading narratives circulating on social media concerning the recent violence in Kikyau Village, Mangu District of Plateau State, and has called for urgent investigation and protection of vulnerable communities.

In a press release issued after a joint meeting of its national executive, women’s leadership and youth leadership, and signed by its Director of Public Affairs, Friday Derwam, the association said it was necessary to set out its account of what happened in Kikyau and to correct what it described as false claims.

According to the MDA, armed Fulani attackers surrounded the Kikyau community and killed Mr. Geofrey Kato Gumut, whose body was subsequently found decapitated.

Following the killing, local youths mobilized to search for Mr. Gumut’s missing head so that his remains could be properly buried. The search party, the association said, followed a trail of blood from the scene of the killing toward a nearby Fulani settlement and peacefully, demanded the return of the missing remains, but the occupants responded with violence.

The association said the Kikyau killing is the latest in a series of unprovoked attacks against Mwaghavul communities, noting that recently 24 people were slaughtered in Bin Mper and that in less than ten days, more than 28 Mwaghavul people have been murdered.

It added that this follows a pattern of coordinated attacks since 2023 that have resulted in the deaths of more than 750 Mwaghavul people, with victims frequently attacked in their homes or ambushed while working on their farms, with some subjected to severe mutilation.

The joint meeting also rejected claims circulating on social media concerning the ownership of alleged enclaves within Mwaghavul territory.

The MDA stated that no portion of Mwaghavul land has been legally ceded, sold, or transferred to aggressors, whether under formal law, customary arrangements, or any recognized agreement.

It said the Mwaghavul people have historically accommodated members of other communities, including through social integration and intermarriage, but that this history of coexistence has instead been met with systematic violence, displacement, and attempts to seize land.

The association further expressed concerns over misinformation, saying the narratives circulating online omit important details surrounding the Kikyau incident, including the blood trail leading toward a nearby settlement and the killings of residents, and called on the public to examine such claims carefully and to rely on verifiable evidence rather than narratives that distort the sequence of events.

The Mwaghavul Development Association called on the public and media organizations to reject narratives that deliberately distort the circumstances surrounding attacks or attempt to shift responsibility away from those who carried them out.

It also called on security agencies and relevant government authorities to urgently investigate the Kikyau attack and other reported killings across Mangu Local Government Area, identify those responsible, and bring them before the law, while urging government to strengthen security around vulnerable farming communities and take decisive action against armed groups and camps operating unlawfully within Plateau State.

The association said it remains committed to protecting the lives, ancestral lands, and dignity of the Mwaghavul people and called for the truth surrounding the violence in Mangu to be established through credible investigation and evidence, rather than misinformation or competing narratives.

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