Fulani herdsmen: Benue, Plateau, Others at Threat of Being wiped out by herdsmen

The murder of the 78 year old monarch who was the Chairman of Bokkos Traditional Council in Plateau state with his son, daughter in-law, Police Orderly and a relation....Benue, Plateau, Others at threat of Being wiped out by herdsmen

The killing of the longest-serving ruler on the Plateau is one too many and a clear invitation to war.

The state has lost a Senator, a member of the House of Representatives, a member of the state House of Assembly, and thousands of villagers, to suspected herdsmen.

“This killing of the first class traditional ruler is not just murder but an attempt to erase us from the surface of the earth." --  Reps

Hon. Timothy Golu appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently visit Plateau State and make a clear statement on the actions being taken to address the increasing killings by suspected herdsmen across the country.

“Plateau will boil and if it boils, the whole of Nigeria will be affected. The people living in Plateau are not Plateau indigenes alone. This case requires more than a presidential spokesman writing a statement as a reaction. The President should visit the state to address this new dimension to the acts of terrorism on the Plateau,” Golu said.

Nigeria is struggling with a conflict that is more dangerous than the Boko Haram insurgency.

Armed nomadic herdsmen are now posing a deadlier threat to Nigerians than any terrorist group.

Over the last year, the threat of the Boko Haram insurgency in northern Nigeria has gradually waned, yet a more deadly and far-reaching conflict has emerged. In the last month well over 100 people across three states have been killed by suspected nomadic herders, largely from the northern Fulani ethnicity and Muslim.

The attacks this year have been incessant and brutal. In February, over 300 people died in a single attack on a community in a central state of Benue, from the herders commonly called the “Fulani Herdsmen”. In the same state, hundreds of people have been killed in several attacks since then.

Across Nigeria, reports of villages attacked by groups of armed herdsmen has led to widespread disbelief at the scale of the attacks. But along with that disbelief, a confusion as to what the causes really are. The conflict is an old one but one that has suddenly spiralled out of control.