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Over 200 killed in weekend violence in central Nigeria: governor
JOS, Nigeria, June 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – More than 200 people were killed
in violence against farming communities last weekend in Plateau state,
central Nigeria, according to a speech by the governor published on
Wednesday.
Simon Lalong said after a closed-door meeting with President Muhammadu
Buhari in the state capital Jos on Tuesday night that the clashes had left
“the painful loss of over 200 people”.
The police, who blame suspected cattle herders, have said 86 people were
killed. However, multiple local sources from the communities affected
maintained more than 100 people died.
The main association representing the largely nomadic herders has denied
its community had any involvement in the killings.
The violence is the latest bout in months of bloodletting in Nigeria’s so-
called “Middle Belt”.
The clashes are rooted in tensions over access to land between pastoral
herders and sedentary farmers, but have generated sectarian friction between
Muslims and Christians.
Lalong suggested “criminal elements” were exacerbating tensions, including
“conflict merchants” involved in “cattle rustling, theft, banditry, gun
running” and other crimes.
Buhari came to power in 2015 on a promise to curb insecurity across the
country, in particular Boko Haram, whose Islamist insurgency has killed at
least 20,000 since 2009.
But a resurgence of violence in the long-running conflict between herders
and farmers has put that under scrutiny as elections approach in February
next year.
Analysts predict the extent of the unrest could eclipse that of the
jihadists in the northeast.
Lalong said the latest attacks in Plateau were carried out with
“sophisticated weapons” that were “reflective of a terrorist invasion”.
“It (the bloodshed) therefore demands a justified response like that which
was undertaken to address the Boko Haram insurgency,” he added.
Lawmakers earlier this month threatened Buhari with impeachment because his
security chiefs had repeatedly failed to protect lives and property.
The 75-year-old leader on Tuesday said he would “continue to pressurise
members of the law enforcement agencies directly under me by the constitution
as the commander-in-chief”.
He also said it was an “injustice” to imply he was doing nothing because he
was from the same ethnic Fulani group as the herders and Muslim.
BSS/AFP/MRI/1604 hrs