Fulani bandits blocked the Gusau-Funtua Federal Highway near Unguwar Chida village in Tsafe Local Government Area, Zamfara State, at about 4:05 p.m. on August 25. The attackers opened fire on two commercial vehicles, an unregistered Sharon car and a Sokoto State Transport Authority bus. Eight travelers were killed, eight were abducted, and nine others sustained gunshot wounds.

Hours later, at about 6:45 p.m., the same group attacked Magazu village in Tsafe LGA, wounding a 35-year-old resident with a stray bullet. Police and military forces pursued the attackers and reported killing 17 suspected Fulani bandits in a subsequent gun battle near the Funtua-Gusau highway, according to a statement from Police Public Relations Officer DSP Yazid Abubakar.

In a separate attack at about 9 p.m. on August 28, a woman, Mrs. Helen John, was killed by suspected Fulani assailants in Batok 2 Village, Riyom Local Government Area, Plateau State. Nigerian troops responding to reports of sporadic gunfire discovered her body. A preliminary investigation indicated that the assailants had laid an ambush, concealing themselves in a maize farm near her residence before attacking her as she performed household chores. Her body was handed over to community leaders, while security forces began efforts to track down and arrest the assailants.

A third ambush, reported by a stringer in Bassa Local Government Area, Plateau State, followed the same pattern.

At about 8:00 a.m. on August 25, 2026, suspected Fulani herdsmen laid an ambush along a road in Miango, Bassa LGA, approximately 30 kilometers west of Jos. They attacked two Christian villagers, Joseph Rugu, 45, and Chayi Demi, 40, as they returned from a funeral, killing both with machetes.

In a separate incident at approximately 1:00 a.m. on August 26, Fulani militias entered Zherenvi, Rewienku, and destroyed 19 hectares of tomato, cabbage, and green bean crops, as well as more than 20 hectares of cornfields, using machetes and other means.

Fulani herders often use their cattle to destroy crops in the fields of Christian farmers or use machetes to destroy vegetables, leaving Christian families with nothing to eat.

In a press release signed by National Publicity Secretary Joseph Chudu Yonkpa, the Irigwe Youth Movement (IYM) characterized the destruction as an attempt to weaponize poverty against Irigwe farmers, who were already facing high costs for fertilizer and other agricultural inputs.

The IYM called on Operation Enduring Peace (OPEP) in Plateau State, the Nigerian Police, Operation Rainbow, and other security agencies to investigate, arrest those responsible, and ensure that affected farmers receive compensation. It also called on the Executive Chairman of Bassa LGA, Hon. Dr. Joshua Sunday Riti, the Plateau State Emergency Management Agency (PLASEMA), and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to conduct an independent investigation into the extent of the damage and provide humanitarian relief.

The group urged Irigwe residents not to take the law into their own hands and to allow security agencies to continue their work.

On August 25, farm destruction in Nzhwerenvi Rewienku Village affected 11 identified farmers, with individual losses ranging from one to five hectares of cabbage and two to 2.5 hectares of tomatoes. Residents identified four suspected perpetrators. On August 26, the destruction of cornfields affected seven farmers, with individual losses ranging from two to four hectares.

Rev. David Rabo, a 56-year-old Christian resident and church elder from Nyang’o, Bassa Local Government Area, Plateau State, provided the account of the August 25 ambush near Miango as a firsthand witness in the affected community. He is affiliated with ECWA Rotsu, an Evangelical Church Winning All congregation, though he clarified he is not the resident pastor there.

Rabo described his community as agrarian, with residents engaged in both dry-season and rain-season farming and few other sources of employment aside from a handful of local institutions, including ECWA Secondary School and a rest home. He said the community is Christian and that residents are “doing well in serving God,” though he said some have grown desperate in their faith, having “met some people who think that if we have a God, why is it that the God is not protecting us.”

On security, Rabo said “the issue of security in our area is just something that is worrisome,” adding that the community has cried out to the government “that there is no help.” He said soldiers are scattered in the area but that “these killings continue,” noting three people were killed within the span of a week, including Joseph Rugu, 45, and Chayi Demi, 40, who had traveled to a burial in a neighboring village and were ambushed while returning home at around 8 a.m. He said the victims were “ambushed, shot, macheted,” and that their bodies were not recovered until the following morning.

Rabo attributed the attack to Fulani assailants, though he acknowledged there were no eyewitnesses to the ambush itself, saying the identification was “based on history and pattern.” He said his community has no conflict with any other neighboring tribe, only with Fulani herdsmen who “leave their place, come and attack us.” He said the responsible parties live in Fulani settlements “north and south” of his community, near the Bassa area, and said the same attackers destroyed roughly 11 farms of grown maize the same night.

Asked about motive, Rabo said the disputes center on land, with Fulani herdsmen claiming the community’s “soil, our water, our grass is good for their cattle.” He said this justification has at times been stated directly. “Sometimes they say it. They are living among us.”

Rabo said he was not aware of Fulani settlements engaging in violence against one another over grazing land. All of the violence has been directed against Christians. Because Christian communities have no weapons, either the government will have to intervene, disarm the Fulani, and protect Christians, or God will have to change the hearts of the Fulani.

In this vein, Rabo said, “There are some that you need them to say, ‘This thing, we don’t want it.’”

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