A mob has attacked Fulani herdsmen
in Nigeria’s restive middle-belt with
an eyewitness saying Monday that
fourteen people were “hacked and
burnt” to death over the
weekend. The long-running battle
between the nomadic Fulani
herdsmen and farmers for land
represents a major Nigerian
battleground that is often overlooked
but no less violent than the
northeastern Boko Haram insurgency
or the Niger delta uprising in the
south.
“I was returning from Plateau state
with eight passengers, all of them
Fulani herders,” commercial bus
driver Adamu Aliyu told AFP. Aliyu
said his bus broke down in Kaduna
state, so he left it to go search for a
mechanic. “While I was away a mob
surrounded the vehicle and forcibly
brought out the eight passengers.
They hacked them to death, dumped
them in the vehicle and set it
ablaze,” Aliyu said. “Another vehicle
was also attacked when it stopped to
refuel and all the six people were
burnt to death along with the
car.” Aliyu said a riot broke out in the
streets, with soldiers and police
finally intervening to contain the
carnage. “The following day youth in
the area mobilised and blocked the
highway, vandalising vehicles and
attacking motorists,” Katuka
said. Kaduna state police spokesman
Aliyu Usman acknowledged the
Godogodo attack and the riot, but
said only two people had died in the
unrest.