Suspected Fulani Herdsmen On Killing Spree In Nigeria: Kogi, Plateau, Benue, Others Mourn

Unic Press UK: Many people have been killed in Kogi State, Plateau State and in Benue State by nomadic pastoralists suspected to be of Fulani ethnicity.

In the case of Kogi, where more than thirty innocents, including children were recently murdered in communities in Omala Local Government Area and Dekina Local Government Area, both in Kogi State, “the assailants arrived by boat on Wednesday, opened fire on the people and burnt down homes. An eyewitness said they wore military fatigue and wielded AK 47 assault rifles. Many of the residents who fled for their lives remain unaccounted for,” the Guardian Newspapers, Nigeria, reported on 16 March 2018.

Abejukolo, Oganenigwu and Agbenema are among the several communities in Kogi that are being ravaged by armed arsonist suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.The Oganenigwu Community Development Association (OCDA) raised alarm over the spate of killings.

In relation to the killings and destruction in Plateau State, the Irigwe Development Association (IDA), an association of Irigwe community that has been under vicious attack by herdsmen, issued a press statement on 11 March 2018, which reads:

“Gentlemen of the press, when we addressed you last year following the serial attacks on our people that left over seventy people dead and properties destroyed, we told you it was a confirmation of the threat by the herdsmen… the Fulani herdsmen have continually unleashed mayhem on our communities, killing, maiming, burning and destroying farmlands. Since January this year, we have continually picked corpses of our loved ones, some burnt beyond recognition from night attacks by Fulani herdsmen militia, some killed in the homes, some in the farms, and others on their way home from places of leisure and business. When we reacted to a claim by the Miyetti Allah group in January of missing cattle, we told you it was a ploy to justify another round of killings. true to this, the Fulani militia, which the federal government has refused to brand a terrorist organization to the dismay of Nigerians, have continued to visit our villages with orchestrated and unwarranted carnage. This ugly scenario which has continued unhindered has left in its wake, sorrow, tears and despair in Irigwe land, thus, leaving our people homeless, and hopeless daily, as they leave in droves to seek refuge in Jos and environs. We have cried out to security agencies to rise to the occasion, but it will interest you to know that some of the attacks occured just few meters from security check points, but the soldiers would rather stay glued to these check points even against distress calls and offer of intelligence by our people.”

In Benue, the killings is still ongoing according to Governor Samuel Ortom. One of the villages attacked recently was Omusu, in Okpokwu Local Government Area, in which at least twenty-four people were brutally killed. A mass burial was held for the dead on 15 March 2018.

On 11 January, the state government also held a mass burial for the dead. This was in relation to attacks on New Year’s Day, the 1st January 2018, in which, the herders of cattle suspected to be of the Fulani ethnic group, attacked communities in Benue State, Nigeria, killing seventy-three people in Guma local government area (LGA) and Logo LGA, Benue State, Nigeria.