NIGERIA, Dec. 5 -- Twenty-four years is a long time for any society to bleed. Yet, Plateau State has spent nearly a quarter of a century walking through the valley of the shadow of death, not as a poetic metaphor but as the lived reality of families whose loved ones never returned home. When a community counts its years in graves instead of achievements, something fundamental has snapped in the soul of the nation.

The recently released report by the Fact-Finding Committee on Incessant Attacks, Killings and Destruction did not merely present statistics - it opened a ledger of sorrow. 11,749 lives. 420 communities attacked. 13 Local Government Areas scarred. These are not just numbers thrown around for effect; each represents a story abrup...