Two military aircraft have killed over 1,000 cows in several attacks on Fulani villages in Keana and Doma local government districts of Nasarawa.
The attacks reportedly took place between Thursday, June 10 and Sunday, June 13.
The operation was said to have lasted three hours and drove farmers and Fulani herders to flee their homes for fear of being killed.
“Operation Whirl Stroke of the Nigerian Air Force Base Makurdi in Benue State was in charge of the aircraft that carried out the operation,” a source claimed.
“Some bandits shot at a military aircraft, which caused the shelling of the entire area,” according to the sources. One of the gunships was painted in the colors of the Nigerian Air Force, while the other was painted in army green.”
Some Fulani leaders, on the other hand, said the attack was unprovoked.
Hundreds of cows were also slain between Kwatanbala and Akwanaja in Doma LGA, according to Bala Mohammed Dabo, interim Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Nasarawa State.
“During a separate attack on Thursday in Kuduku, Keana LGA, Alhaji Jigawa lost a large number of cows. In Nasarawa State, we met with military authorities. The officer in charge here was the overall commander in Benue, and he vowed to elevate the situation to the appropriate authorities.
“We pleaded with them to end the unjustified siege and slaughter of cows in Nasarawa State,” he said.
A victim, Ibrahim Adamu of Akwanaja ward in Kwatanbala LGA, said the gunships killed 40 of his cows on Thursday.
“Our cows had returned home from grazing when the plane came in around 6 p.m. and killed them. We’re in a lot of agony, and we’re hoping for assistance from whatever source we can find. “The cows are our main source of income,” he explained.
Abdulkareem Bayero, the Chairman of the Coalition of Fulani Youths Groups of Nigeria (CFYGN), stated awful things were going on in Nasarawa State that were not being reported.
“We are pleading with the authorities to intervene in the Fulani terrorism. In Nasarawa, there is no anti-grazing legislation, thus there is no basis for air force gunships to come in and destroy hundreds of cows belonging to innocent Fulani herders.
“The onslaught has been going on for a long time, with the most recent attack occurring on Thursday. Aside from the cows slain in the LGAs of Awe and Keana, hundreds of others have fled to Benue State, where they have been rustled by the locals.
“We need the federal government’s help; we need compensation for our people. If this kind of lawlessness continues, peace will continue to elude the country,” he said.
“Around 6 a.m. on Sunday, two aircraft from the side of Benue launched sporadic attacks and killed our cows,” said Ya”u, a youth leader in Keana.
“When they returned the second time, at 9 a.m., they began bombing the injured cows again, just as our workers were attempting to save some of them. Aside from the hundreds slaughtered, more than 500 cows have gone missing.
“We are in distress, we need urgent intervention. Government must talk to the military to stop the offensive. We are compelled to suspect that the government at the centre is also complicit because only the federal government has the power to dispatch aircraft to go and bomb a target.
“We are living peacefully in Nasarawa, we don’t have any case with the host communities and we have never been suspected of banditry or kidnapping but our people are now the target of attacks; we are in serious disarray,” he said.
