News / Nigeria

23 villagers killed in communal violence in central Nigeria

Sunday, 19 April 2015 3:18 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 19 April 2015 3:18 PM ]

File photo shows children walking outside a charred house in the remote northeast Nigerian town of Baga, Borno State, after two days of clashes between officers of the Joint Task Force and members of Boko Haram Takfiri terrorist group. ©AFP

Deadly clashes between two chiefly fishing and farming communities in central Nigeria’s Benue state have left at least 23 people dead, police say.

“Some 23 corpses have been recovered following the fighting between Ologba and Egba communities in Agatu local government area of the state,” Austin Ezeani, state police spokesman, told AFP on Sunday.

Quarrel over fishing rights in the region sparked the latest clash between the two villages, which also left a number of people injured, he added.

“The two neighbors were fighting over ownership of a fish pond. The violence broke out on Friday and continued until Saturday with many people also injured,” Ezeani said.

Police put an end to the violence and the area is calm again, he said.

Eighty-two Egba people were killed in an attack by Fulani herdsmen last month. Egba villagers blame the Ologba people for helping Fulanis in the raid.

“The Egba people believed the Fulani herdsmen could not have entered their community without passing through Ologba. So they believed the Ologba villagers must have aided the Fulani in that attack,” Ezeani said.

Over the past few years, attacks and reprisal attacks by farmers and ethnic Fulani herdsmen have left hundreds of people dead.

The Middle Belt in central Nigeria, which encompasses Bento state, has been the site of ethnic, sectarian and communal violence in recent years.

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