Armed men suspected to be vigilante personnel have attacked an 18 seater bus conveying about 15 persons comprising of women and children in Taraba state.
The passengers boarded the ill fated bus from Zaki/Biam in Benue State to Maihura in Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State on Tuesday.
It was reported that the incident had occurred at Gankwe village along the Donga- Mararaban-Baissa road in the Donga Local Government Area of the state.
Mr. Mpuuga Mbaave, the driver of the ill-fated bus who sustained matchete cuts wounds as he had only been liucky to escape death by the whiskers, told journalists over the phone that those who attacked his bus were armed men in vigilante uniforms.
“I loaded 18 passengers from Zaki/Biam in Benue State to Maihura in Taraba state, and on our way close to Mararaba, I saw many people in Vigilante uniform. I suspected something was wrong, so I parked the vehicle.
“One of the villagers who was passing by told me that I should proceed. According to him, two members of the Vigilante personnel were killed by kidnappers, and the vigilante came to carry their corpses.
“As I moved closer, some of the Vigilante personnel started shouting, ‘kill all of them,’ kill all of them,’ it’s their people (Tiv) that killed our members, and they started attacking the passengers and cutting them with machetes,
“They ordered the passengers out of the bus, forced them to lie facedown. I refused to come down, but when I discovered that it was getting out of hand, I decided to jump out of the bus and ran away. My conductor too followed me. They came after us cutting us with a machete, but we ran for our dear lives,” he narrated.
Hon. Ezra Voka,Chairman of Doonga Local Government Council who confirme the development stated he was already searching for the missing persons in the nearby forest.
“Please my friend, I am already in the bush in search of the missing people. We cannot talk much now till when I get more information from here,” he said.
