Latest news with #FulaniHerders
Arab News
22-06-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Toll in lynching of Nigeria wedding guests rises to 12
JOS: The number of people killed after a mob stormed a bus carrying Muslim wedding guests in central Nigeria's volatile Plateau state has risen to 12, according to the Nigerian presidency. The dead include the groom's father and brother, it said. President Bola Tinubu has condemned the killings, the latest attack to hit the region where tensions are high after a series of bloody attacks in recent days, with ethnic Fulani nomadic Muslim herders suspected of killing dozens of people in Plateau's Mangu local government area. Police, survivors and local organizations said around 30 people on a bus to a wedding lost their way, stopped to ask for directions, and were accosted by an irate mob. They were attacked with sticks, machetes and stones and their bus set ablaze, a survivor told AFP. Initially authorities had confirmed eight dead with four reported missing. Tinubu described the lynching 'as unacceptable and barbaric,' said a statement from his office which said the dead included the groom's father and brother. The Nigerian leader ordered the arrest and punishment of the culprits as he urged the Plateau state government to 'take decisive action in handling these vicious cycles of violence.' Fulani herders in the state have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, over access to land and resources. Police say they have arrested 22 suspects in connection with the attack.
News24
18-06-2025
- Politics
- News24
Nigeria's central region grapples with recurring violence
Recurring deadly clashes between Fulani herders and Christian farmers plague Nigeria's Benue state over land and resources. Massacres, like the Yelewata attack, highlight premeditated violence and displacement fears amid failed security measures. Government efforts, including security deployment and peace committees, lack effectiveness, requiring political and communal resolutions. For several months, Nigeria's central state of Benue state has been the scene of a series of deadly attacks pitting Muslim Fulani herders against mainly Christian farmers. On Friday, gunmen killed more than 100 villagers in an overnight attack in Benue's Yelewata village, where the assailants also set houses ablaze. The killings are the latest in Nigeria's north-central region, which has seen a surge in violence amid clashes between Muslim Fulani herders and mostly Christian farmers competing for land and resources. Benue and nearby Plateau state are located on the dividing line between Nigeria's mostly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south, which have historically been a flashpoint for intercommunal violence. In the face of the latest massacre, Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday visited Benue, the first presidential visit forced by violence, according to the state governor. Here is what we know about the violence. What is happening? Benue State, in central Nigeria, is regularly targeted by deadly attacks attributed to armed men, presumed to be Fulani herders. The raids are typically staged at night. Amnesty International has tallied 6 896 people killed over the last two years in the state. Since January, several localities - including Yelewata, Gwer West and Ankpali - have been targeted, leaving hundreds dead. The latest attack prompted strong reactions, including street protests that police put down using teargas. "This crisis has gone on too long," said George Akume, a former Benue state governor and a current Nigerian government secretary. READ | 'It is insulting': Nigerian president's pardon of 'Ogoni Nine' draws ethnic group's rejection "No one deserves to live in fear or uncertainty in their own homeland. This really hurts." Pope Leo XIV condemned the killings as a "terrible massacre" in which mostly displaced civilians were murdered with "extreme cruelty". Yelewata community leader David Tarbo said the local communities are traumatised and have lost confidence in the security forces. He told AFP: People are afraid. The security on the ground no longer inspires confidence. Many have fled, and only a few remain. Some families fleeing recurring attacks in the region arrived in Yelewata on the night of the assault seeking refuge, only to be killed shortly afterwards, he said. What triggers the violence Two weeks earlier, at least 25 people were bludgeoned to death in attacks in separate raids on two villages in the state. Benue, one of Nigeria's biggest food-producing states, is located in the so-called Middle Belt, a religiously mixed region where such disputes often take on a sectarian and ethnic dimension. Elif Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images Moreover, the impact of climate change and human expansion is pushing herders away from the northwestern and northeastern regions toward the north-central zone, sparking deadly competition for increasingly limited space. Benue state governor Hyacinth Alia told Tinubu on Wednesday that the attacks appeared premeditated. The attacks have "persisted for well over a decade," he said, causing locals to believe that it is a "calculated attempt targeted at annihilating us, taking over our ancestral homes". What is the government doing to curb the violence? Tinubu has directed security forces to act decisively, arrest perpetrators, and prosecute them. During his visit to Benue, he also recommended setting up a peace committee comprising traditional chiefs. However, residents and analysts say that past deployments of security forces have done little to quell the resurgence of violence. Security analyst Timothy Avele said: It has become clear that the security agencies and the military will not be able to do it alone. Mark Gbillah, a former House of Representative member of Benue State, said attackers have not encountered any resistance, 'so they are being emboldened' to continue killing. He suggested more security forces deployments, 'and most importantly, the governor needs to now make sure the people can defend themselves'. However, Tinubu and the chief of defence staff, Christopher Musa, have suggested that military intervention alone cannot solve the recurring violence. "Most of it is a political solution that needs to come into it because it is not what the military can solve," Musa said in Makurdi.
Free Malaysia Today
02-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Gunmen kill 25 in restive central Nigeria
Benue has been one of the states hit hardest by violence between nomadic herders and farmers. (AFP pic) JOS : Gunmen over the weekend killed 25 people in two attacks across north-central Nigeria's Benue state, local authorities told AFP today, the latest violence in a region known for deadly land disputes and reprisals. Attackers killed 14 people yesterday in the community of Ankpali, said Adam Ochega, chairman of the Apa local government council, warning that 'there are still some threats here and there'. Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, in Benue over access to land and resources. In a recent report, Amnesty International tallied 6,896 people killed over the last two years in Benue, part of Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt, a mixed-religious region where such disputes often take on a sectarian dimension. A police spokesman confirmed the attack but did not provide a toll. In a similar attack yesterday evening on Naka village, of Gwer West local government area, 11 people were killed by what authorities said were suspected Fulani militias. 'So far we have recovered 11 dead bodies and five people are confirmed injured,' Gwer West council chairman Ormin Victor told AFP. Last month, 44 people were killed in a span of four days in Gwer West. Motives for the violence in that attack were not clear, but Victor blamed the 'coordinated attacks' on Fulani cattle herders. Herders across the region meanwhile say they are also the victims of deadly attacks by farmers, land grabs and cattle poisonings. Land used by farmers and herders in central Nigeria is coming under stress from climate change and human expansion, sparking deadly competition for increasingly limited space. Benue has been one of the states hit hardest by such violence between nomadic herders and farmers who blame herdsmen for destroying farmland with their cattle grazing. When violence flares, weak policing all but guarantees indiscriminate reprisal attacks, which often occur across communal lines. A spate of attacks across Benue and neighbouring Plateau state left more than 150 people dead in April alone. Land grabbing, political and economic tensions between local 'indigenes' and those considered outsiders, as well as an influx of hardline Muslim and Christian preachers, have heightened divisions in Plateau state in recent decades.
News24
27-05-2025
- General
- News24
Nigeria attacks kill 44: local official
At least 44 people, including children and a pregnant woman, were killed in coordinated attacks in Benue state, Nigeria, over four days. Local officials blamed Fulani herders for the raids, describing them as systematic and brutal, with some victims mutilated. A Catholic priest was shot and wounded, and two passengers were abducted during one of the attacks; police confirmed fewer casualties. At least 44 people have been killed in separate attacks in recent days in central Nigeria, a local government official said on Tuesday, raising the toll in the latest raids in a region where herders and farmers often clash. The attacks occurred in three villages between Friday and Monday, the chairperson of the Gwer West local government area of Benue state, Ormin Torsar Victor, told AFP. Motives for the violence were not clear, but Victor blamed the 'coordinated attacks' on Fulani cattle herders. Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers, many of whom are Christian, in Benue over access to land and resources. 'As of today morning, I passed through Aondona, they were mentioning 14 bodies that have been recovered, including a pregnant woman and a boy of two,' he told AFP, adding that 30 others were killed in Ahume. 'Yesterday evening one person was killed, the number keeps increasing by the day. Even now I think some corpses have not yet been discovered,' he said, calling the attacks 'systematic'. The victims were either shot or stabbed, he said. He said the 'pregnant woman was macheted' while the two-year-old boy was 'mutilated'. A Catholic priest was shot and wounded while driving along the Markudi-Naka road, the church and the local government official said. 'They shot him and left him there thinking he was dead,' said Victor, adding that two passengers that were with him were abducted. In a call for prayers for the wounded priest posted on Facebook, the church said he was shot by 'suspected terrorist herdsmen'. 'Coordinated attacks' A resident of Aondona, Ruthie Dan Sam, told AFP late on Monday that '20 people were killed here in Aondona'. She said: Children of less than two are being killed. The worst sight is a baby macheted on its mouth. She added that other people had been killed in neighbouring villages, but said she had no figures. Victor said he and other locals had buried five people, including a father and two of his sons killed in the village of Tewa Biana 'very close to a military base'. Benue state police spokesperson Anene Sewuese Catherine confirmed two attacks in the area but said her office had received 'no report of 20 people' killed. She said that one raid resulted in the death of a policeman who had 'repelled an attack' and that 'three dead bodies were discovered'. The attacks in Nigeria's so-called Middle Belt often take on a religious or ethnic dimension. Benue has been one of the states hit hardest by such violence between nomadic herders and farmers who blame herders for destroying farmland with their cattle grazing.
