At least 579 people have been killed from January to June in
clashes and reprisal attacks between farmers and herdsmen in four states
alone, a Daily Trust check reveals.
The deaths come from four north-central states of Benue, Plateau, Kogi and Nasarawa.
Some 503 people, including farmers, a village head, two priests and
several churchgoers and travellers were killed in attacks across the
four states in the first six months of 2018.
In the same period, 76 herders were killed in attacks in Benue,
Nasarawa and Plateau, including 25 by soldiers in Benue. No herder death
was recorded in Kogi.
Only 98 cows were rustled—some killed, others wounded—all in
Nasarawa alone in the first half of the year. And efforts to get
security difficulties under control have not gibed with the public.
Public outrage over the killings demands that government take
necessary steps to protect lives and properties. Media reports and
comments by government officials and security agencies seem not to have
transformed into action that would bring the violence to an end.
Available data on killings in the four states and other parts of
the country is indicative of a dangerous state of insecurity in the
country.
Days after the latest round of violence, public officials,
including Senate president Bukola Saraki and Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo, have visited Plateau.
Former education minister Oby Ezekwesili went on a solo protest to
the Aso Villa but was stopped by security. Up to 22,000 people have been
displaced in the latest round of violence, according to the
International Committee of the Red Cross and the Nigerian Red Cross.
But estimates indicate the number of people displaced could be
higher—and has been increasing over time as communities come under
tension. Sources familiar with the area speak of entire villages along
Birnin-Gwari axis between the states of Kaduna and Niger uprooting and
leaving their homes after threats.
Several calls have been made to bring the perpetrators on both sides to book, and seek justice for the dead.
“You cannot bring back the lives, but finding and prosecuting
the perpetrators will go a long way in helping to calm people and ease
the pain that they are going through,” Saraki said during his visit.
“Therefore, yet again, we call on our security agents to ensure
that they find the perpetrators that have done this and make them
account for their detestable actions.”
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