Herders kill 1, burn 146 houses in Yobe

Suspected armed herders have killed one person and burnt down 146 houses, displacing more than 1,500 people in a reprisal attack in Gurjaje community of Turmi/Maluri Ward in Fika LGA of Yobe State.

It was learnt that the target community of the attackers was Dogon Kuka in Mazawun/Zangaya/Duffuyel Ward, but that security personnel were mobilised to the town to prevent the attack following an intelligence report.

The hoodlums were said to have then descended on Gurjaje, a nearby community, for allegedly harbouring Dogon Kuka residents.

A media aide to Hajiya Halima Kyari Joda, the Chairperson of the Caretaker Management Committee of Fika LGA, Mr Abubakar Ayuba Idris, told Daily Trust via telephone that the assailants attacked the town at about 8pm on Monday.

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He said in the early hours of February 13, 2024, the Hon Hajiya Halima Kyari Joda, alongside the Emir of Fika Alhaji Muhammad Ibn Abali Idrissa, and the Member of the Yobe State House of Assembly for Fika East, Alhaji Yakubu Suleiman Maluri, paid a sympathy visit to Gurjaje community.

He further said that based on the findings and assessment by the chairperson and members of the community, a total of 146 households (approximately 1,686 people, including children, Persons with Disability {PWDs} and the elderly, were affected and displaced to the nearby communities of Maluri, Garin Ari, Dibbol, Bulaburin and Fika.

When contacted, the police spokesman in the state, DSP Dungus Abdulkareem, said the attack happened as a result of a clash between the herders and people of Dogon Kuka in September, 2023.

He said, “Last year around September there was a clash between the people of this community (Dogon Kuka) who are mostly farmers and herders over grazing. During the conflict, vigilantes killed two herders.”