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News24
20 hours ago
- 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
6 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Attacks in central Nigeria kill at least 20
A spate of attacks across Plateau and neighbouring Benue left more than 150 people dead in April. (Boko Haram/AFP pic) JOS : Attacks in north-central Nigeria's Plateau state have killed at least 20 people this week, local government and humanitarian sources said Wednesday, in the region's latest flare-up of violence. The three separate assaults across the Mangu local government area followed a series of attacks and reprisals that appear to have started while people were mining in the tin-rich region, local government council chairman Emmanuel Bala told AFP. Muslim ethnic Fulani nomadic herders have long clashed with settled farmers in Plateau, many of whom are Christian, over access to land and resources. Attacks in the region often fall across ethnic and religious lines, leading to indiscriminate sectarian reprisals. 'Some time ago the natives were mining, they were attacked' with machetes, though no one died, Bala told AFP. Following a series of retaliations and counter-retaliations, three attacks took place Monday and Tuesday, leaving at least 20 dead, Bala said. Eight people were killed Tuesday night in the village of Chinchin by suspected Fulani assailants, Bala said. That attack followed an assault Tuesday outside Langai town, where five people were killed. On Monday, unknown attackers killed seven in Bwe district. Fulanis in the area have also been harassed and attacked in recent days following deadly assaults blamed on people from their ethnic group, Bala said. A Red Cross official confirmed the Chinchin toll and said the number of people killed across the 24-hour span could be as high as 21. 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. Land grabbing, political and economic tensions between locals and those considered outsiders, as well as an influx of hardline Muslim and Christian preachers, have heightened divisions in recent decades. When violence flares, weak policing can mean reprisal attacks follow which often occur across communal lines. A spate of attacks across Plateau and neighbouring Benue state left more than 150 people dead in April alone. While high-profile killings blamed on herders have shocked the country, herders across the region say they are also the victims of deadly attacks by farmers, land grabs and cattle poisonings.
