Zagazola Makama reports that latest international media appearance by Plateau-based activist, Masara Kim Usman, has once again exposed how misinformation, emotional propaganda and outright fabrication are being weaponised to inflame Plateau’s communal crisis and falsely portray it as an “Islamic jihadist war” against Christians.
In his now-circulating interview, Masara claimed that armed Fulani jihadists attacked a burial ground during funeral rites in Barkin Ladi while mourners were burying victims of earlier attacks.
According to him, gunmen opened fire from surrounding hills, forcing locals to abandon proper burial rites and hurriedly dump corpses into shallow graves before fleeing for their lives.
He further claimed he personally witnessed someone being shot during the attack and that armed terrorists carrying sophisticated weapons and sniper rifles attempted to massacre mourners.
But there is one major problem with the entire dramatic story: absolutely nobody was killed or injured during the so-called burial attack.
Not one casualty, no one corpse, not one hospital record, not one medical or security report from multiple security agencies and not one single verified victim, except him.
The obvious question therefore remains if hundreds of armed “Fulani jihadists” attacked a crowded burial ceremony with sophisticated rifles and sniper weapons as claimed by Mr Masara, how did nobody die? How did nobody sustain injury? How does a “mass attack” end without a single casualty?
The answer is simple, because the narrative was fabricated and staged to create panic, attract sympathy and push a false genocide narrative to international audiences. Even Masara’s own videos exposed the inconsistencies.
The same man claiming he was running for his life under heavy gunfire somehow managed to hold his camera perfectly steady, maintain smooth commentary with British accent, control his breathing, avoid visible distress, remain spotless without sweat or dust, and narrate events calmly like a movie correspondent.
At different times, he claimed he ran two kilometres. Later, the distance mysteriously became five kilometres. Yet throughout the footage, there was no sign of exhaustion, panic or trauma expected from someone supposedly escaping sniper fire and a coordinated terrorist assault.
Even more damaging to the propaganda effort was what appeared in the background of the footage itself. While Masara shouted dramatically about “Fulani attackers,” some women visible in the same environment were calmly walking without panic, without taking cover and without any indication that an active attack was taking place nearby. In the same background some youths were asked to run while the documentary was being shot.
In fact, the only armed individuals clearly visible in portions of the footage were local Berom militia carrying weapons and firing toward nearby hills.
Also Read: Plateau women halt burial in protest against arrests
Security and community sources confirmed that before the burial commenced, armed Berom youths had already gathered around the area, allegedly mobilising for a reprisal attack on a nearby Fulani settlement following earlier killings of seven persons.
Troops of Operation Enduring Peace deployed to the area reportedly intervened to stop the retaliatory mobilisation. According to findings, while tensions were high during the burial, sporadic gunshots were fired by the same local armed youths toward nearby hills, triggering confusion and panic which Masara and others immediately transformed into a staged “Fulani terrorist attack on mourners.”
Masara also falsely claimed that while the burial was ongoing, “someone was shot” some distance away from him. Again, this claim collapsed immediately because there was no recorded casualty, no injured victim, no evacuation and no corpse connected to the supposed shooting.
Not even community leaders could identify the alleged victim he claimed to have seen fall after gunshots. In his interview Masara claimed that local vigilante at the burial responded with Dane guns, but the Fulani had superior weapons than them. This further confirmed that the shooting was actually from within.
The story simply never happened.
Masara also attempted to frame Plateau’s crisis as part of a broader “Islamic jihad against Christianity” allegedly aimed at establishing an Islamic caliphate and destroying Western civilisation.
According to him, Fulani attackers were fighting Christianity because “the West brought Christianity” and therefore wanted to eliminate Christians and Western influence.
This claim is not only false but dangerously irresponsible. The reality is that Plateau State is NOT under invasion by Boko Haram, ISWAP or any international jihadist organisation. No terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for attacks in Plateau.
No ISIS flags have appeared in Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Mangu or Bassa. No evidence exists showing any coordinated jihadist structure operating in the state.
What Plateau is experiencing is a long-running communal conflict driven by reprisals, cattle rustling, farm destruction, land disputes, livestock poisoning and cycles of revenge killings between armed groups from different ethnic communities.
The killings are real. But they are happening on BOTH sides. Fulani communities have suffered attacks. Berom communities have suffered attacks. Livestock have been rustled and poisoned. Farms have been destroyed.
Villages on both sides have buried victims.
Even as this report is being compiled today 9th May 2026, fresh incidents involving attacks on livestock were again recorded in Bassa, where criminal youths reportedly shot and killed four cows, while in the night of 8th May 2026, attack was reported in Riyom where some people were killed in a cycle of reprisals that repeatedly triggers counter-attacks.
Masara conveniently ignored these incidents because acknowledging them would destroy the false “one-sided jihad” or Christian Genocide narrative being sold internationally.
He also falsely alleged that a Muslim soldier attached to Operation Enduring Peace aided attackers and was later arrested after refusing to engage the assailants.
This allegation was another blatant fabrication.
Checks revealed that the soldier in question, a naval rating, was away on an administrative assignment approved by his unit commander — who, incidentally, is also a Christian officer. He was neither armed nor deployed at the attacked location during the incident. But because the soldier was Muslim, propagandists immediately framed his absence as “evidence” that he collaborated with Fulani attackers.
This reckless weaponisation of religion is exactly what continues to poison Plateau’s fragile environment. Every incident is instantly branded “Islamic terrorism.” Every criminal becomes “Fulani jihadist.” Every reprisal attack becomes “Christian persecution.”
Meanwhile, the actual realities of criminality, communal reprisals and illegal arms proliferation are ignored. The same activists defending armed youths and illegal militias are often the loudest voices accusing security agencies of bias whenever arrests are made.
Only recently, troops uncovered illegal arms fabrication factories in Plateau and arrested suspects manufacturing AK-47 rifles and ammunition components. Instead of condemning the criminal arms operation, some individuals openly defended the suspects and justified illegal weapon production as “community self-defence.”
This dangerous normalisation of militancy or terrorism is precisely why Plateau remains trapped in endless violence. No society survives when civilians begin manufacturing assault rifles while activists celebrate them online. It is also important to note that several attacks highlighted by Masara conveniently omitted the reprisal context surrounding many incidents.
Zagazola repeatedly maintain that many retaliatory attacks follow earlier incidents involving cattle rustling, poisoning of livestock, attacks on herders or destruction of farms.
According to security source familiar with operations in Plateau: These attacks always have history behind them. Something usually happens before reprisals occur. We have repeatedly warned communities against poisoning cows, attacking herders and carrying out retaliatory raids. But propaganda often overshadows the real causes.”
The source added that illegal arms in the hands of youths across affected communities remain one of the biggest threats to peace. The truth remains that Plateau’s crisis cannot be solved through emotional manipulation, fake genocide narratives, staged videos or international propaganda tours.
The violence in Plateau is tragic and real. But turning a complex communal conflict into fictional “Islamic conquest” propaganda only deepens mistrust, fuels retaliation and prolongs the bloodshed.
Peace will only come through accountability, disarmament, justice and honest engagement on ALL sides not through staged narratives designed to deceive the world and inflame tensions further.
Zagazola Makama
