Dozens killed in violence between farmers, herders in Nigeria | Crime News

President Muhammadu Buhari’s office promises to prosecute perpetrators of ‘barbaric’ incident as conflict turns sectarian.

Dozens of people have been killed in violence between farmers and herders in Nigeria’s central Nasarawa state, the office of the president said, giving a higher toll than local officials.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s office released a statement late on Tuesday saying the leader “expressed grief over the heart-wrenching murder of 45 farmers and scores injured”.

Buhari was quoted as saying his government would “leave no stone unturned in fishing out the perpetrators of this senseless and barbaric incident, and bring them to justice”.

Local police said violence erupted on Friday and continued until Sunday when armed Fulani herders attacked villagers from the Tiv ethnic group over the killing of a kinsman that they blamed on Tiv farmers.

The police initially gave a death toll of eight, with other sources suggesting many more had been killed.

Amid an ongoing investigation, a “suspected reprisal attack” was carried out by unknown persons in three villages resulting in the death of eight people, according to the Nigerian online news site, SIGNAL.

SIGNAL also reported that at least 5,000 farmers across 12 communities have been displaced due to the violence.

 

Many are still reported missing in the bush, and it is unclear whether they are still alive, the report added.

Nasarawa state police spokesman Ramhan Nansel earlier said military and police teams had deployed in the area to restore calm and arrest the perpetrators.

“We received a complaint on the killing of a Fulani herdsman but while the investigation was ongoing, a reprisal attack was carried out in Hangara village and neighbouring Kwayero village,” Nansel said.

“Eight people were killed in the attacks and their bodies were recovered by the police and taken to hospital.”

However, Peter Ahemba of the Tiv Development Association said the death toll was higher.

“We recovered more than 20 corpses of our people killed in the attacks in 12 villages across Lafia, Obi and Awe districts where around 5,000 were displaced,” he said, adding that many people were still missing.

Deadly clashes between nomadic cattle herders and local farmers over grazing and water rights are common in central Nigeria.

The internecine conflict has taken on an ethnic and religious dimension in recent years. The Fulani herders are Muslim, and the farmers are primarily Christian.

The friction, which has roots dating back more than a century, was caused by droughts, population growth, the expansion of sedentary farming into communal areas as well as poor governance.

Violence by criminal gangs of cattle thieves among the herders, who raid villages, killing and burning homes after looting them, has compounded the situation.

Meanwhile, Nasarawa state governor Abdullahi Sule promised to go after killers of Fulani herders and Tiv farmers.

“There was needless loss of lives of our citizens. Such act of violence is most unfortunate, condemnable, and unacceptable and will not be condoned by this administration,” Saraha Reporters news site quoted Abdullahi as saying.