JOS, PLATEAU STATE — By Prime Brief Media
A pastor and three members of his immediate family have been killed in a late-night attack on Gako village in Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State, the latest in an unrelenting wave of violence that has turned communities across the North Central state into killing fields.
The victims have been identified as Reverend Ayuba Choji, his wife Chundung Ayuba, and their two children, Cyril Ayuba and Endurance Ayuba. According to multiple accounts from residents, the assailants stormed the village at approximately 11 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, 2026, and opened fire indiscriminately, triggering panic as families fled into surrounding bushland for safety.
A resident of the community, Martha Dalyop, who spoke to Vanguard and Channels Television, described a night of terror. "They came late in the night and started shooting everywhere. People ran into the bush for safety. We are no longer safe in our own homes," she said. Dalyop lamented that recurring attacks had left communities in perpetual fear, with many residents unable to sleep in their homes or tend to their farms.
The Publicity Secretary of the Berom Youths Moulder Association, Rwang Tengwong, confirmed the incident to multiple news outlets and offered a grim tactical assessment of the evolving threat. "The way these attacks are carried out shows clear coordination. While some attack residents, others are busy destroying farms and blocking roads to prevent any form of rescue," Tengwong told Channels Television.
He explained that the assailants now employ a sophisticated operational pattern: splitting into groups during attacks, with one contingent targeting residents, another destroying farmlands, and a third mounting surveillance or blocking access roads to prevent escape and frustrate intervention by security forces or local vigilantes.
Tengwong further disclosed that a large expanse of farmland had been destroyed by gunmen in the preceding 48 hours in Kassa, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area. The destruction particularly affected cabbage, hot pepper, and maize crops, worsening the plight of farming communities already reeling from insecurity.
Efforts by journalists to obtain a reaction from the Plateau State Police Public Relations Officer were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report. Channels Television reported that calls and messages to the command's spokesperson were not returned.
The attack on Gako village forms part of a deeply troubling pattern of violence across Plateau State's Riyom and Barkin Ladi local government areas. Just one week ago, on April 21, 2026, six people were killed and eight others injured in two separate attacks on Hurum Gashish community in Barkin Ladi and another village in Riyom. On April 10, Daily Trust reported two people killed in Barkin Ladi and Riyom. On April 6, three people were killed in a terrorist invasion of a Plateau village. The cadence of violence suggests a sustained campaign, not sporadic incidents.
Plateau State, situated in Nigeria's Middle Belt, has become one of the deadliest theatres of the country's overlapping security crises. The state's position at the volatile intersection of ethnic, religious, and resource-based conflicts has made its rural communities particularly those in Riyom, Barkin Ladi, and Jos South persistent targets for armed groups. The region's predominantly Christian agrarian communities have borne a disproportionate share of the casualties, with attacks frequently targeting clergymen, worshippers, and farming households.
The destruction of farmlands alongside the killing of civilians represents what security analysts describe as a dual-pronged strategy: the immediate terror of physical violence and the long-term weaponization of hunger through the destruction of food sources. This approach deepens the vulnerability of communities already stretched to breaking point by displacement, food insecurity, and economic collapse.
Prime Brief Media extends condolences to the family of Reverend Ayuba Choji and the Gako community. We continue to monitor the security situation in Plateau State and will provide updates as more information becomes available regarding the investigation and any security response to this latest attack.
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