Tuesday, Governor Caleb Mutfwang made a firm commitment to proceed with a planned Yule jam, despite the increasing death toll from the weekend-long attack on Plateau communities. He stated that the deadly rampage would not alter his government's schedules because it did not affect the state capital, Jos.
The governor's decision to maintain the schedule for his December 31 evening event with Haitian musician Wyclef Jean came as responders reported that fatalities from the violence inflicted by killer herdsmen on rural dwellers in his state had escalated to 162.
The updated figures emerged a day after 112 residents were reportedly killed in coordinated attacks across over a dozen villages in the central Nigerian state. The majority of the victims were women and children, all targeted by marauding pastoralists on a prolonged mission to displace ancestral inhabitants and seize control of the lush plains and tributaries filling the balmy region.
"We now have 162 bodies from all the places that local security people searched," a volunteer medical worker, Maria Mwantok, reported. "Many people in Bokkos fled into nearby woods with gunshot wounds where they later bled to death."
The attacks, which began on Saturday afternoon and lasted until Sunday midnight, left scores of people critically injured. The violence spanned at least 15 villages across three local government areas — Bokkos, Barkin Ladi, and Mangu.
As the attacks were underway, the governor posted a video on his X (formerly Twitter) handle announcing December 31 and January 1 for an upcoming party that would feature Wyclef and M.I. Abaga, a Nigerian entertainer from Plateau. M.I expressed his sorrow over the violence and prayed for the victims in an X post on Monday.
"On behalf of the peaceful and loving people of Plateau state. I am honoured to welcome Wyclef Jean, a Grammy award-winning artiste and global music icon, and the Caribbean International Commerce Holdings Team to Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria," Governor Mutfwang said in a video posted at 11:24 a.m. Sunday.
The governor stated at the end of the video, which will "be lit," that he plans to use the event to launch the Plateau State Industrial Innovation and Technology Park in Jos, the state capital.
As the post drew a flurry of criticisms from citizens who slammed its timing as insensitive to the grieving families and the memories of the deceased, the governor's office was asked whether any plans were being considered to readjust the event's schedule.
"Yes, it's holding," the governor's chief press secretary, Gyang Bere, confirmed by telephone on Tuesday morning.
Mr Bere assured that the governor and participants at the event would be completely safe from the herdsmen violence because the event would be held in the state capital, as opposed to remote communities where insecurity had dislodged thousands.
"What is happening is not an issue in Jos city," Mr Bere said, adding that what happened in the villages was "an attack outside."
But in Jos, "there is security on the ground," the governor's spokesman said. "Our event is still on the timeline."