A senator and the majority leader of the Plateau State House of Assembly died yesterday as they participated in burial of crisis victims, the first time such senior politicians died in the recurrent violence plaguing the state.But there are conflicting accounts of how Senator Gyang Dantong and Mr. James Gyang Fulani died, as mass burial was held for at least 37 people who were killed by suspected herders in Barkin Ladi local government area on Saturday.
While government officials said the lawmakers were shot dead as they attend the burial of those killeded on Saturday, the senator?s brother said Dantong died of heart attack.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted Mr. Ruwang Dantong, a brother of the late senator, as saying that he died after seeing the dead bodies of his kinsmen
killed earlier in an attack on Kakuruk village.
Ruwang also said Fulani, representing Barkin Ladi constituency, died in a similar manner.
He said both lawmakers were at the scene of the attack carried out between Friday and Saturday when they started hearing gunshots from another set of attackers.
Shocked by the situation, the two collapsed and were taken to Barkin Ladi General Hospital where they were pronounced dead.
In his account of the incident, spokesman for the STF Capt. Salisu Mustapha said Dantong and Fulani collapsed when shots were fired during the burial and were later pronounced dead in hospital. But he said he could not confirm if the two lawmakers were felled by bullets.
?I cannot say if the attackers were Fulani men; they are more likely to be mercenaries from somewhere far from the villages where the attacks have been taking place,? he told Daily Trust.
But a spokesman for Governor Jonah Jang, Mr. Ayuba Pam, said Dantong and Fulani were shot dead by gunmen while attending the burial of the victims of Saturday?s attack in some villages.
Pam said Dantong, Fulani, a member of the House of Representatives for Barkin Ladi/Riyom constituency Simon Mwadkon, and other mourners were by the graveside when shots rang out from all directions.
He said Dantong and Fulani were shot in the commotion, while Mwadkon managed to escape alive.
Pam said it is not true that Dantong died as a result of shock or heart attack, insisting that he was assassinated while attending the burial.
?The killing has added a new frightening dimension to the crisis in parts of the state,? Ayuba said, blaming the Federal Government for ?not taking adequate
measures? to protect the people.
Chairman of the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Dr. mmanuel Loman, also said Dantong and Fulani were killed.
Customs officer killed in reprisal
There was tension in Jos and Barkin Ladi yesterday following the death of Senator Dantong.
Reports said some major streets in Jos were blocked by youths protesting the deaths of Saturday and yesterday, while there was increased movement of troops in Barkin Ladi.
In response to the mounting tension, the state government announced a night-time curfew in Jos North, Jos South, Barkin Ladi and Riyom local government areas, which have been plagued by communal violence for years.
Later in the evening yesterday, customs officer Abubakar Ibrahim Kankiya and an unconfirmed number of people were reported killed along Heipang-Jos road in apparent reprisals. A relation of the late Kankiya confirmed the killing to Daily Trust.
The man, Sentor Dantong
Senator Dantong, a medical doctor by profession, was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and member of committees on Cooperation and Integration in Africa and NEPAD, Solid Minerals and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Born on February 20, 1959, the late Dantong attended LEA Primary School, Bachit; Riyom Commercial Secondary School, Riyom; Government College, Keffi; the University of Jos and the University of Ghana, Legon.
Before he joined politics in 1996, Dantong was the medical director of Vom Christian Hospital between 1988 and 1990 until he moved to Belize City (California)
Hospital as Volunteer Medical Doctor.
He was elected into the House of Representatives in 2003 where he represented Riyom/Barkin Ladi Constituency.
Dantong was first elected into the Senate on the platform of the People?s Democratic Party in 2007 and re-elected in 2011, representing Plateau North Senatorial
District comprising Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Jos South, Jos East, Jos North and Bassa local government areas of Plateau State.
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