|
Listen to article
|
Gunmen ambushed and killed three Fulani herders along the Dorowa, Jong road in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State on Thursday evening, decapitating one of the victims, in an attack that has sharpened existing tensions between pastoral and farming communities in one of Nigeria’s most chronically volatile north-central states.
The victims were identified as Tahiru Muhammad, Jibrin Salisu, and Abdulmumin Isyak. The three men were travelling by motorcycle toward the Jong community when gunmen intercepted them at approximately 7:30 p.m., shot them, and used bladed instruments to sever the head of one of them. They had spent the afternoon at a Qur’an Tafsir, an Islamic exegetical gathering held daily during Ramadan, in the neighbouring community of Dorowa. They were on their way home when they were attacked.
Ibrahim Babayo, State Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, confirmed the killings at a press briefing in Jos on Friday and named the Berom community as the suspected perpetrators, a charge the Berom leadership rejected swiftly and without qualification. “The perpetrators, after shooting the victims, used sharp objects to cut off the head of one of them,” Babayo said. “It was a brutal attack that should be condemned by all and sundry. We strongly believe this unprovoked attack was carried out by members of the Berom community who have been perpetrating violence against our members and cattle.” He said the association had urged its members to exercise restraint and allow security agencies to conduct the investigation. “This is not the first time our people have been targeted,” he said. “We will not be provoked, but we expect both the state and federal governments to safeguard our lives and property.”
The National President of the Berom Youths Moulders Association, Barrister Solomon Dalyop, denied any Berom involvement. He said that the world, particularly Nigerians, knew that the Berom and other ethnic groups associated with the farming communities of Plateau State do not operate killer groups, and urged security agencies to place scrutiny on MACBAN and its members rather than on the Berom. “I call on relevant bodies to put their eyes on Miyetti Allah and its members so that they will be held accountable for any attack on our people,” Dalyop said.
Captain Chinonso Oteh, spokesperson of Operation Enduring Peace, the joint military task force deployed across Plateau State, confirmed that the command received word of the incident at approximately 11 p.m. on Thursday and mobilised troops to the scene immediately. He said the General Officer Commanding the 3rd Division had expressed concern and directed that those responsible be tracked down. “Investigation has commenced,” he said. “The GOC has appealed to the affected families to remain calm and allow security agencies to investigate who is responsible for the attack.”
Barkin Ladi has been among the most persistently dangerous local government areas in Plateau State for more than a decade, sitting at the intersection of demographic, economic, and religious divisions that have fuelled a cycle of violence, cattle theft, poisoning of livestock, ambushes, and retaliatory raids, that no single security intervention has managed to break.
Read Also: Bandits Abduct Catholic Priest, 10 Others, Kill Three
MACBAN’s own documentation of attacks suffered by Fulani herders in Plateau during the final quarter of 2025 alone recorded more than 20 separate incidents, spanning Barkin Ladi, Bokkos, Mangu, Riyom, Bassa, and Jos East local government areas. The incidents included the killing of a herder in Forof, Bokkos LGA on November 30; the rustling of 137 cattle in Fan District, Barkin Ladi LGA on December 11; and the poisoning of dozens of cattle across multiple sites. Babayo told journalists in January that the cumulative value of cattle lost in those incidents exceeded half a billion naira.
The violence has flowed in both directions, and the retaliatory cycle has been extensively documented. On December 16, 2025, armed men attacked an illegal mining site in Tosho community, Fan District of Barkin Ladi LGA, killing twelve people and abducting three others. Security sources said the attackers were seeking information about 171 cattle stolen from the Nding community days earlier.
On December 31, 2025, gunmen killed seven farmers in their homes and on farmlands in the Bum community in Jos South LGA, in what security sources described as a coordinated nocturnal reprisal for a shooting attack on Fulani youths four days earlier along Bukuru Express Road.
As recently as February 2, 2026, two and a half weeks before Thursday’s ambush, cattle poisoning was reported in Riyom LGA, with investigators noting that toxic substances had been deliberately concealed inside oranges left in grazing areas, a targeted method that local community representatives condemned as criminal and premeditated.
Read Also: Police Station, Church Burned, Residents Abducted By Bandits
Academic researchers and conflict analysts have described the violence as shaped by competition over land, water, and grazing routes that climate change has made more acute; by the proliferation of small arms that has transformed previously localised disputes into lethal engagements; and by what one researcher described as a “disconnect between official perception and local experience,” with government statements characterising events as “clashes” while affected communities describe organised, targeted attacks. Observers have called on the federal government to identify and prosecute those who finance, arm, and direct the attackers on both sides, arguing that without addressing the command and resource structures behind the violence, security deployments alone will not break the cycle.
No arrests had been made in connection with Thursday’s killings as of Friday evening. The investigation was described as ongoing.
