NIGERIA-ATTACK – TELAM Agency
At least 37 people were killed in an attack by gunmen against a displacement camp in northern Nigeria, the second massacre in a week in the African country, local authorities reported today.
The attack against a school housing the families in the state of Benue occurred yesterday, two days after a massacre in another village in the same state, where at least 50 people were killed.
The motives for these killings remain unclear, but local authorities accuse nomadic farmers of the Fulani ethnic group, who have long clashed with settlers in Benue province over access to land and resources.
“My security adviser confirmed to me that 37 people were killed,” Benue state governor Samuel Ortom told the AFP news agency by telephone.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who will step down in May after two terms, today condemned the massacre and said efforts are being made to end this “extreme violence.”
Rural violence is one of the great challenges for President-elect Bola Tinubu, who prevailed last month in the Nigerian presidential election, marked by delays and accusations of voter fraud.
Tinubu will take office in May, and will also have to deal with a jihadist insurrection in the north of the country and secessionist tensions in the southeast.
Source: Ambito
