A communal clash between Fulani herdsmen and farmers from the Eggon ethnic group has reportedly left not less than 60 people dead in Nasarawa.
The fighting reportedly broke out yesterday, a week after villagers accused the Fulani of stealing their cattle.
Nasarawa police spokesman, Umaru Ismaila, told the Reuters news agency that most of the casualties suffered machetes cuts.
According to Ismaila, most houses have been set ablaze while the town has been deserted by residents.
“The report we have is 60 dead from the clash in Tudun-Ababu village. Some bodies were burned beyond recognition,” Ismaila said.
“Houses around the chief’s house have been set ablaze while the chief’s house was vandalised. We didn’t recover any corpse yet but the town has been deserted. The town is just like a ghost town.”
In the last 12-months, hundreds of people have been killed in communal clashes between the semi-nomadic, cattle-herding Fulanis and the farming communities because of land-use disputes.
Communal clashes have escalated in recent time, especially in the northern part of Nigeria. In April, a clash between Fulani cattle rustlers and Hausa youths killed 72 people.
According to a Human Rights Watch report in December 2013, clashes in central Nigeria has killed over 3,000 people since 2010.
Government should look for a settlement for these herdsmen and make it illegal for them to move around
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