ABUJA (AP) – Christian Jonathan’s mother was holding her 9-month-old baby boy in her arms when she was shot dead in an attack on her village in northwestern Nigeria. The attackers cut off Christian’s fingers and left him on the side of the road with a bullet wound in his small leg.
“They left him on the ground next to his mother’s body,” said Christian’s father, Joshua Jonathan. “They thought the boy was dead.”
A nighttime attack in Ranj, Kaduna state in April killed 33 people, most of whom were either burned or shot. Since then, more people have died in ongoing clashes between nomads and rural communities in the northwest and central regions of the West African country, including more than 100 people in Plateau State this month. . Decades of violence have turned deadly, with at least 2,600 lives lost in 2021, according to the latest data from the Armed Conflict Places and Events Data Project. Once armed with sticks, the group now fights with weapons smuggled into the country.
In the midst of the conflict, shepherds say they too are under attack. They complain of cow barking and extrajudicial killings by local security forces acting as vigilantes.
Abdullahi Belo Bodejo, president of the National Shepherd Association, denied that anyone in the group was involved in the violence. Most nomads belong to the Fulani tribe.
“Fulanis are not murderers. Those who carry out murders are not our members. When communities accuse us of murders, 75% of them may not be true. But we always blame the Fulani,” Bodejo said.
Nigerian security forces said they had arrested dozens of militants and seized their weapons. Conflict researcher Abdulaziz Abdulaziz said the number of attackers is estimated to be in the thousands, and new members could be easily recruited.
“Dynamic (military) operations are limited because they do not address the socio-economic problems that have led to banditry in the region in the first place,” said Oluwole Ojewale of the Institute for Security Studies, which specializes in Africa. said. He said the new Tinub government should work with state governments to tackle unemployment, poverty and social injustice.
Recent incidents of violence have led to the formation of local, state and regional security forces, which experts say could pose major problems to Nigeria’s security regime if not properly monitored. .
And their recruits are young. Kaduna student Felix Sunday, who was 16 when he joined a local vigilante group in 2021, said he finds it difficult to juggle staying up all night and schoolwork.
Across much of West and Central Africa, porous borders facilitate arms smuggling. At least six million firearms may have been in civilian hands in the country at the time, according to a report based on a 2021 study by the Geneva Small Arms Research in collaboration with the Nigerian government.
The military and police seized hundreds of firearms in Nigeria last year, but arms dealers in other regions have compounded the problem.
“The situation has gotten a lot worse. Some are large military weapons imported from other countries,” said Confidence McHarry of SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based security firm.
Armed with advanced weaponry, armed groups have launched bold attacks in Kaduna military bases, airports and other areas where security forces are concentrated, suggesting that the problem may be motivated by the security forces themselves. suggesting.
Survivors of the Plateau attack told the Associated Press that the police did not arrive until the next day, echoing comments made by Lungi residents, who have a security checkpoint nearby.
“We call the soldiers, but they come only after the attackers have left. When we hear they (attackers) are coming and we report it to the government, the government takes no positive action,” said a vigilante leader near Ranj, who used arrows, bows and locally-made weapons to ensure safety. Simon Nham said, area .
Kabir Adam, founder of Beacon Consulting, a security firm based in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, said part of the problem was that security forces were unorganized and unprepared for attacks.
“We don’t have a coordinated security department that detects and counters threats,” he said. “They need to work together to save lives, and at the moment they are not doing enough.”
The Nigerian Army and Nigerian Police did not respond to written and telephone inquiries seeking a response to this allegation.
As more and more families mourn the death of loved ones and are forced to replace farmlands with cemeteries, their priority is to seek justice. “Why do people just come and kill and nothing happens?” Dauda asked in a lunge, remembering his life with his wife and four children. “I can’t get my lost family back, but at least the government can rebuild my home and bring justice.”
