Nigeria: Armed men attacked two communities in Nigeria’s north-central region, which has killed 14 people and injured several others, authorities stated on Thursday.
The attackers has attacked the communities in Logo council region of Benue state on Wednesday night, opening “unprovoked” fire on residents, said Paul Hemba, the state’s top security official.
Police in Benue have confirmed about the attack. The assailants has over 12 people to death in one community then moved on to another where they killed two more villagers, Hemba said. He added that 15 people were “seriously wounded.”
He has identified the attackers as “Fulani herdsmen,” a group of young pastoralists from the tribe of Fulani caught up in Nigeria’s battle between host communities & herdsmen over limited access to water as well as land.
Meanwhile, in Nigeria’s middle belt & central regions, deadly clashes between local communities as well as herdsmen continue in a cycle of violence that has defied the measures of government, although security forces have recently made an announcement of some arrests & seizure of arms.
At the same time, a similar attack in another part of Benue has targeted a convoy of soldiers of the Nigerian military, but they were able to repel the assailants, Hemba added.
Majority of the attacks in rural regions are similar. Motorcycle-riding armed men often arrive in the hundreds in regions where Nigeria’s security forces are outnumbered & outgunned.
Whereas, authorities have in the past has admitted that the inadequate number of security personnel in many of the affected regions is one of the significant reasons the attacks have continued.
Moreover, the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, who came into office in 2015 after promising to curb the nation’s protracted security crisis, leaves office in 2023.
The security challenges which were mentioned are back on the front burner as political campaigns for next year’s election begin.
