MACBAN Slams Plateau Insecurity Report, Alleges Exclusion of Fulani Victims
The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has strongly criticized the Plateau State High-Powered Fact-Finding Committee on Insecurity, alleging its final report is biased and deliberately excluded Fulani victims of attacks, killings, and destruction spanning 2001 to 2025.
In a statement issued on behalf of Fulani herding communities, MACBAN claimed the committee’s findings, as reported in the media, “grossly failed to capture the true dynamics and atrocities committed against Fulani herders,” and instead portrayed them as the principal aggressors. The association labeled this as a “grave misrepresentation of facts” in a conflict it deems complex and long-running. “The Fulani, as one of the indigenous and peace-loving communities in Plateau, have often been cast solely as aggressors in a deeply complex conflict in which they have also been victims of killings, displacement, and destruction,” the association stated.
MACBAN’s outcry comes in response to media reports published on September 19, 2025, which cited the committee’s findings of 11,749 deaths and 420 communities attacked over 24 years, allegedly by Fulani militias and herders. The association described these claims as one-sided and potentially dangerous, alleging they could “blackmail Fulani communities and make them vulnerable to ill-treatment, intimidation, and further attacks.”
The association noted the committee’s chairman, Maj.-Gen. Rogers Ibe Nicholas (rtd), later clarified that all ethnic groups were involved in the Plateau crisis. However, MACBAN expressed shock that the Plateau State Government’s Director of Press and Public Affairs, Mr. Gyang Bere, had earlier issued a statement specifically linking Fulani herders to the attacks. “The question is: who killed the Fulani people and destroyed their communities?” the statement asked. MACBAN further called the claim that Fulani herders were solely responsible for the violence an “unfounded lie” and a “fabrication intended to achieve political objectives.”
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Despite the committee’s alleged omissions, MACBAN insisted that the Fulani have consistently reported incidents of killings, cattle rustling, arson, and forced displacement to security agencies but claim little action has been taken.
Zagazola reports that a comprehensive documentation of attacks on Fulani communities compiled from community records, eyewitness accounts, and verified security correspondences reveals a consistent pattern of killings and destruction across several local government areas:
In Mangu LGA between 2023 and 2025, approximately 263 persons were killed.
Over 35 Fulani settlements were destroyed, displacing more than 4,000 families. Victims include Mallam Bello Ibrahim and Aisha Adamu (killed May 2023), and 15 persons killed in Ampang West (Feb. 2024). In May 2024, over 36 women and children were reportedly burnt inside their huts, with more than 2,000 cows rustled. The violence continued as recently as October 8, 2025, when two Fulani women and a teenage boy were executed along the Mangu–NYSC Camp Road.
In Bokkos LGA from 2019 to 2025, approximately 78 people were killed. Incidents include the killing of Alhaji Sule Dan Malam and seven others during morning prayers in Kwatas (Jan. 2019) and the ambush and killing of 12 Fulani herders in Mangor District (July 2023).
Bassa LGA has seen more than 120 killed between 2017 and 2025. Victims include 20 Fulani residents killed in an overnight assault in Nkyie Dong village (Sept. 2017) and nine women and six children killed when their settlement was torched in Zanwra community (Feb. 2025).
In Riyom and Barkin Ladi LGAs, longstanding tensions have resulted in the death of over 204 Fulani persons between 2012 and 2025, with 94 killed in Riyom and over 110 killed in Barkin Ladi. Victims include 15 Fulani persons killed in Shonong District (Riyom, Aug. 2015) and 23 Fulani herders attacked and killed in reprisal raids in Foron District (Barkin Ladi, June 2012).
MACBAN has called on the Federal Government, security agencies, civil society organisations, and the international community to reject and condemn the report, insisting it is “baseless, lopsided, and capable of derailing ongoing peace efforts.” Community leaders appealed for a judicial panel of inquiry to ensure justice for all victims, irrespective of ethnicity or religion, warning that true peace can only be sustained through fairness and recognition of all who have suffered.
By PRNigeria
