33 killed as farmers and herdsmen clash in kaduna

Herdsmen Cattles

Thirty- three persons have been killed in the violent clash between cattle herders and farmers in Kaduna, one of Nigeria’s northern  state, a police chief told AFP on Thursday.
The state police commissioner Agyole Abeh said that the conflict which lasted for two days started on Sunday in Kajproaruru village, 50 kilometres (30 miles) outside the city of Kaduna.

“A total of 33 people were killed in the violence between Fulani herdsmen and farmers,”

“The violence started when some villagers attacked a young Fulani man and his father, which led to the death of the young man after he was admitted in hospital,” Abeh said.

The victim’s kinsmen gathered from nearby settlements and launched a reprisal attack on the village, killing six men, said Abeh.

In response, the youth from the farming communities “mobilised and went into the bush attacking and burning Fulani settlements they could find”, he added.

“Our men were contacted but before they could deploy, the attackers had killed 26 people, mostly women and children and injured several others.”

In order maintain peace in the environment, security personnel have been moved to the area.

Nigeria’s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has ordered reinforcements in Kaduna state following the clashes.

He condemned what he said were the “needless deaths” and expressed frustration with the security challenges in southern Kaduna.

Osinbajo said in a statement which was issued on Wednesday evening that he will ensure that the “perpetrators of these dastardly acts” will be identified and brought to justice.

There has been series of deadly clashes in Southern Kaduna between the predominantly Christian farmers and Muslim Fulani herders, a historically nomadic people who graze their cattle on the land.

Originally, the clashes were over land and water rights disputes but ethnicity and religion have been playing a larger role in the conflict after post-election violence in 2011 that saw hundreds of Muslims killed and forced to flee the area.

The tension and killing between the herdsmen and farmers will not go down without a national strategy in place to address the conflict.