Fulani herdsmen have reportedly killed scores of people in a community in Nigeria’s north-central state Benue.
The attack on Ayin community – said to be a renewed assault, reportedly happened on Thursday night.
“Suspected armed Herdsmen came to Ayin Benue State yesterday night to attack our people again. This attack claimed the lives of multiple villagers and we are still recovering corpses in the bush till now,” a top source told an investigative news outlet.
“However, the traditional rulers are trying to hide the situation from escalating,” Sahara Reporters quoted the source as saying.
Police could not be reached for comment.
Attacks by herdsmen in the northcentral state of Benue have led to the killing of at least 5000 persons in recent times.
Thursday’s attack comes three days after 16 farmers were ambushed and killed on Kashimbila Road in the state while returning to their community in Mbandwa ward.
The farmers were returning home on Monday when they were ambushed, with their bodies dumped in the river by the assailants.
The conflict between Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria has been a longstanding issue, resulting in violence and loss of lives.
The Fulani people are believed to be the largest semi-nomadic group globally, found across West and Central Africa. In Nigeria, some continue to live as semi-nomadic herders, while others have moved to cities. Unlike city dwellers, the nomadic groups spend most of their lives in the bush and are often involved in clashes with farming communities, and also engage in kidnapping for ransom. They herd their animals across vast areas, frequently clashing with local farmers.
The herders now bear sophisticated weapons and use them to terrorize many parts of the country, with security operatives ignoring many of the attacks for allegedly not getting orders to go after the criminals.
Several brutal attacks happened under former President Muhammadu Buhari, who was born to a Fulani family on 17 December 1942, in Daura, a town in Katsina State, northwest Nigeria.
The continuous unprovoked attacks triggered resistance in South-East region, inhabited by Igbo people and South-West region, inhabited by the Yoruba people.
A Yoruba activist and philanthropist, Chief Dr. Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, demanded end to the attacks that have cost lives of thousands. He asked the Fulani people to vacate all the forests in South-West Nigeria.
As the Akoni Oodua of Yorubaland, he is known for fighting for the rights of the Yoruba people. He is currently advocating for a sovereign Yoruba country.
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