<\/p>\n
Jonas Ezieke, Abuja<\/p>\n
A Fulani socio-cultural organisation, Voice of Fulbe for Peace and Development, has accused some youths from Agatu West area in Agatu Local Government Council of Benue State of carrying out a sustained campaign of deadly attacks, killings and large-scale cattle rustling on Fulani living in Kogi State.<\/p>\n
In a strongly scripted communique signed by the National President, Alhaji Hamman Gizo,and Secretary, Ardoi Ibrahim Yallo, the group said it was writing \u201cto inform Nigerians, the international community, the President of Nigeria, the National Security Adviser, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Director of the Department of State Services (DSS)\u201d and other security authorities about \u201cthe atrocities the Agatu youths are doing to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Voice of Fulbe for Peace and Development described the attacks as \u201cunprovoked\u201d and blamed them for the deaths of community members and the loss of hundreds of cattle.<\/p>\n
The statement said the violence intensified \u201cparticularly after our herdsmen left Agatu peacefully to Kogi State to settle there without any intention or act of violence against Agatu people.<\/p>\n
The group provided an incident timeline , which demonstrates the breadth and severity of the problem:<\/p>\n
Over the past three weeks, the group alleged the death of nine of its members in the general area.<\/p>\n
It claims that about 254 cattle have been rustled, and another 35 were shot dead.<\/p>\n
On 19 September 2025, the statement alleged that \u201cyouths from Agatu west mobilized themselves in hundreds, with AK-47s,\u201d stormed communities in Omala Local Government of Kogi State, killed four persons identified as Hassan Kabiru, Modibo Ibrahim, Hamza Bala and Gizo Muazu, rustled 148 cattle belonging to a Fulani herders, and inflicted gunshot injuries on eight people.<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s statement also said four persons were killed in that action , a figure it lists separately in describing the attack\u2019s toll.<\/p>\n
On 30 September 2025, while Fulani were grazing in Ajokpachi a village in Omala Local Government Area (Kogi State), the group said Agatu youths again attacked, killing 49 cows and rustling 20; no human fatalities were reported from that incident.<\/p>\n
On 2 October 2025, the statement alleged Agatu youths attacked Odo Forest (Kogi State), killing two herders and slaughtering 3 cows.<\/p>\n
On 4 October 2025, it said Agatu youths stormed Igbeji Forest (Kogi State), killed 3 herders persons, rustled 8 cows, and shot dead 26 cows instantly<\/p>\n
The organisation stressed that all the attacks, it claimed, occurred outside Agatu LGA , notably in Kogi State and expressed bewilderment that youths from Agatu continue to \u201cleave their boundaries and state to attack us in Kogi State, \u201cit said.<\/p>\n
The Voice of Fulbe emphasised that Fulani herders are \u201cbonafide citizens of Nigeria\u201d with the right to live and work peacefully anywhere in the country.<\/p>\n
It said Fulani families had resolved to remain peaceful in Agatu and in neighbouring areas.<\/p>\n
The group accused \u201csome criminal elements\u201d among Agatu youths of forming \u201cself-styled\u201d rustling and killing gangs that continue to \u201ctorment the lives of our people, even outside Agatu.\u201d<\/p>\n
The statement suggested those elements may enjoy cover from some traditional rulers in Agatu West, alleging that \u201cmost traditional leaders in Agatu West are complicit\u201d in the attacks ,an allegation the group said must be investigated by security agencies.<\/p>\n
Calling the situation \u201cno longer acceptable,\u201d the organisation demanded immediate official action among which are
\narrest and prosecution of the criminal elements it blames for the killings and rustling;urgent intervention by the federal government and the governors of Benue and Kogi states;Intervention by service chiefs, the President, and security agencies including the military and the DSS and full compensation for the families of those killed and for the loss of cattle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no single Fulani operating in Agatu local government now,\u201d the statement said and widespread fear among Fulani communities grazing in Kogi State and elsewhere. It said the attacks are forcing herders to move and seek protection and that the community can no longer \u201cbear it\u201d without decisive steps from authorities.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While the Voice of Fulbe called for urgent arrests and security action, it also called on national institutions to investigate the alleged complicity of local traditional leaders. The organisation asked security agencies to \u201cgo after them,\u201d arguing that the local elders\u2019 alleged support or tolerance for the youths is enabling the violence.<\/p>\n
The group made clear it prefers non-violent resolution but warned that those under attack would \u201ctake drastic action to end this genocide of our people\u201d if government response is not forthcoming.<\/p>\n
Efforts made to get the response of Agatu Local Government Council’s chairman, Amb. Melvin Ejeh had not yielded positive results at the time of filing this report as his known mobile numbers were not reachable.<\/p>\n
End<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jonas Ezieke, Abuja A Fulani socio-cultural organisation, Voice of Fulbe for Peace and Development, has accused some youths from Agatu West area in Agatu Local Government Council of Benue State of carrying out a sustained campaign of deadly attacks, killings and large-scale cattle rustling on Fulani living in Kogi State. In a strongly scripted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1076,1026,3346,3369],"class_list":["post-7807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","tag-attacks","tag-campaign","tag-deadly","tag-sustained"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7807"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7808,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7807\/revisions\/7808"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}