No fewer than nine people were killed in a clash between herdsmen and farmers in Guri local government area of Jigawa State.
Many were hospitalised.
The Nation learnt that the crisis started last week after a herder allegedly killed a farmer in Guri town and destroyed his rice farm.
A local source told our reporter on the phone that six herders and three farmers died in the clash.
“It was the herdsman that attacked a youth in the farm and killed him,” the source said. “When the farmers in the town got to know, they launched a reprisal attack on the Fulani.”
Spokesman for Guri council Malam Sunusi Alhaji Doro said all schools in the area had been closed indefinitely.
“Nomadic schools had been closed because majority of teachers are people from the farmers’ side who stopped going to work for fear of being attacked,” Alhaji Doro said, adding that the Fulani equally deserted the markets and stopped going to the town.
Farmers abandoned their farms.
Police spokesman Lawal Shisu confirmed the incident but he said two persons were killed.
“There was crisis between the Fulani herdsmen and farmers in Guri local government area where two people were killed and five sustained injuries,” he told The Nation on the phone, adding that the Commissioner of Police, Mr Sale Aliyu Tafida had visited the area.
Shisu said 10 suspects were arrested in connection with the clash.
