Headlines
Herders/Farmers Clashes: US Report Reveals 7,000 Lives Lost in Benue, Nasarawa in Five Years
An estimated 7,000 Nigerians died between 2015 and 2019 in the persistent violence between farmers and pastoralists in the middle belt states of Benue and Nasarawa, a report funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has said.
Titled ”Engaging Communities for Peace in Nigeria (ECPN),” the report also said the violence has cost the Nigerian economy $13 billion a year over the past five years.
An international non-governmental organisation, Mercy Corps, conducted the study across the states and wrote the report.
The group said the study was aimed at preventing violent conflict between farmer and herders in the middle belt states. The report was presented at Bon Elvis Hotels On Thursday in Abuja.
The presentation was witnessed by the paramount ruler of the Tiv, Tor Tiv James Ayatse; the Country Director, Mercy Corps, Darius Radcliffe; USAID Mission Director, Stephen Haykin, represented by USAID country Democracy Officer, Beatrice Reaud , and other community leaders from Benue and Nasarawa states.
The report said a programme of interventions in the middle belt states by Mercy Corps had helped to reduce conflict in the area by 13 per cent.
The report said trained participants in the programme succeeded in resolving1932 inter and the intra-community disputes.
According to the report, over 600 disputes over grazing routes, seasonal access to water points, crop damage, cutting down of economic trees, water pollution by animals, and commerce were addressed peacefully in the communities where ECPN worked.
Event snippet
“Peace and reconciliation lie at the heart of USAID’s global approach to promoting stability and security in conflict-affected areas,” Mrs Reaud, said at the closing event.
“The United States and Nigeria share the objective of reducing violence in the Middle Belt states by peacefully preventing and resolving farmer-pastoralist conflicts.
“We must look beyond the help that Mercy Corps through USAID has given us,” she said.
“We are grateful for the assistance, but [its ideas] must be repackaged an implemented under another name.
“If we don’t change our ways, these problems will continue to hurt us, and it is the poor and downtrodden who suffer most. If you engage in fighting, even if you win, you lose something.”
The Madakin of Lafia in Nasarawa State, Ishaku Dauda, said the USAID Mercy corp initiative had brought peace into their communities.
“We appreciate what they have done. They did not just help face the problem, they helped solve it.
”For instance, if it was a stream that was the cause of the conflict, they dug a borehole as a surplus for water usage for both the herders and farmers.”
“We thank God for Mercy Corp and USAID for what they have done. Some of us never had the idea of coming together, but through their initiative, I began to understand we need to come together to stop the surge,” a member of Zango community in Benue State, Zaki Timbee, said.
In his remarks, the country director of Mercy Corp, Darius Radcliffe, said: ”There has been a tremendous amount of learning as a result of the research that has been embedded into the findings.
”We were able to look at the causes and address the causes of the conflicts without scratching the surface. Also in the engagement with the communities we also decided to choose only Nasarawa and Benue states because they were the states that were most affected by the farmer/herders clashes. They were the likely choices four years ago as they were the states with the most critical cases of violence, in terms of farmer/herders clashes.”
Premium Times
A former Minister of Education, Dr. (Mrs) Obiageli Ezekwesili, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s administration of suppressing civic freedoms and eroding citizens’ rights.
In a statement shared on X (formerly Twitter) titled “A Memo to Nigerians: A Call to Collective Voice on the Shrinking Civic Space and Erosion of Citizens’ Rights in Nigeria,” Ezekwesili condemned what she described as a “deeply troubling trend” of growing state intolerance and repression of dissent.
She urged President Tinubu to immediately direct the Inspector-General of Police to release activist Omoyele Sowore and his colleagues, who were recently detained.
Ezekwesili also called on Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to publicly apologise to EiE Nigeria’s Executive Director, Yemi Adamolekun, and activist, Ms. Nafziger, over their reported harassment during a peaceful #EndSARS memorial event.
“The latest wave of actions against citizens by state security agencies reflects a deeply troubling trend — the steady shrinking of civic space and erosion of citizens’ fundamental rights in our democracy,” she wrote.
The former minister cited three recent incidents — the harassment of Adamolekun, the police clampdown on protesters demanding Nnamdi Kanu’s release, and the repeated arrests of Sowore despite a valid court order — describing them as evidence of “a dangerous pattern” of intolerance and abuse of power.
According to her, the Tinubu administration has become “intolerant of dissent, allergic to accountability, and fearful of citizens’ voices.”
“It is clear that President Tinubu is running a government and security apparatus that are increasingly intolerant of dissent. True strength of a government lies not in silencing critics, but in protecting those who speak truth to power,” she stated.
Ezekwesili urged Nigerians to defend their democratic rights, stressing that sovereignty belongs to the people, not the government.
“Nigeria’s democracy cannot survive on the silencing of conscience. Every act of repression against one citizen diminishes the liberty of all,” she warned.
”We must collectively safeguard our right to speak, assemble, and demand accountability. Our democracy must not become one without citizens.”
The United States government has revoked the non-immigrant visa of Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate.
In a letter dated October 23 and signed by the US consulate-general in Lagos, Soyinka was directed to present his passport at the consulate for physical cancellation of the visa.
Soyinka spoke during a media parley held in Lagos on Tuesday, where he read excerpts from the official correspondence sent to him.
“This letter serves as official notification by the United States Consulate General in Lagos that the nonimmigrant visa listed below has been revoked pursuant to the authority contained in U.S. Department of State regulations 22 CFR 41.122 and is no longer valid for application for entry into the United States,” the letter reads.
The Nobel laureate said he could not identify the specific offence that led the revocation of his visa by the US government.
Soyinka said he applied for the visa after he received a letter from the US Internal Revenue Service about an audit for tax returns.
He explained that his trip was to resolve the tax issues, adding that he wanted to prevent a situation where the US might advertise him as a “tax dodger” to the world.
Soyinka made reference to how he discarded his US green card after President Donald Trump assumed office in his first term.
The Nobel laureate said he wondered whether his visa was revoked because he described Trump as “Idi Amin in white face”.
“It is necessary for me to give this press conference so that people in the United States who are expecting me for their event, not to waste their time. I have no desire,” he said.
“It is necessary for me to give this press conference so that people in the United States who are expecting me for their event, not to waste their time. I have no desire,” he said.
“I have written a lot of plays about Idi Amin. Maybe it is about time I also write about Donald Trump. Literary compliment. Maybe he would reconsider and restore my visa.
“I want to reassure the US Consulate that I’m very contend with the revocation of my visa. Individual citizens are free to interact with me.”
In September, Soyinka said he would not honour an invitation by the US consulate in Lagos for a visa interview scheduled for September 11, 2025.
TheCable
Cameroon ’s top court on Monday declared incumbent Paul Biya, the world’s oldest president, the winner of the Oct. 12 election. Clashes with security forces left at least four protesters dead ahead of the announcement as opposition supporters rallied to demand credible results.
Biya, 92, has led the central African nation since 1982. The Constitutional Council said he received 53.66% of votes while former ally-turned-challenger Issa Tchiroma Bakary got 35.19%. The turnout was 57.7%.
In a social media post after the declaration, Tchiroma said that there was gunfire directed at civilians and two people were shot dead in his hometown in Garoua.
He said: “Toll of their attack: two dead. I wonder what will be said this time? Shooting point-blank at your own brothers — I can’t help but wonder if you’re mercenaries. Kill me if you want, but I will liberate this country by any means necessary. What blatant impunity.”
The four protesters were shot dead in Douala, the economic capital, on Sunday, as hundreds of people stormed streets in several cities. Tchiroma had claimed victory days before Monday’s announcement, citing results he said were collated by his party. Biya dismissed the claim.
According to Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, governor of the Littoral Region that includes Douala, several members of the security forces were injured by protesters. He said at least 105 protesters were arrested.
Dozens of opposition supporters, activists and leaders have been arrested in recent days. Paul Atanga Nji, minister of territorial administration, said on Saturday the government arrested several people plotting violent attacks.
One protester, Oumarou Bouba, a 27-year-old trader in Maroua, said: “I am ready to stake my life to defend my vote. I voted for Tchiroma because I want change.”
Following the announcement of the results, Sani Aladji, a 28-year-old who works in a hotel in Maroua, said: “Nothing will change. I expected that Issa Tchiroma would bring change, which is why I voted for him. There’s rampant corruption under Biya’s regime. We are tired of that. We don’t have roads.”
Biya has ruled Cameroon longer than most of its citizens have been alive. Over 70% of the country’s almost 30 million population is below 35. The election has been the latest dramatic example of tension between Africa’s youth and the continent’s many aging leaders.
He first came to power in 1982 following the resignation of Cameroon’s first president and has ruled the country since then, later benefiting from a constitutional amendment that abolished term limits.
Critics accuse Biya of leading Cameroon from a period of relative stability into one of crisis and conflict. The country in recent years has faced attacks by Boko Haram militants in the north and a secessionist insurgency in the country’s English-speaking North West and South West regions.
That crisis, triggered by the government’s attempts to impose French in English-speaking schools and courts, has killed nearly 7,000 people, displaced more than one million more internally and sent thousands fleeing to neighboring Nigeria.
Despite Cameroon being an oil-producing country that is experiencing modest economic growth, young people say the benefits have not trickled down beyond the elites. According to World Bank data, the unemployment rate stands at 3.5%, but 57% of the labor force aged 18 to 35 works in informal employment.
“Many young people across the country and in the diaspora had hoped for change, but that their hopes have been dashed. It feels like a missed opportunity,” said Dr Emile Sunjo, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Buea. “Cameroon could potentially slide into anarchy.”
Source: AP
