... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity...murderous Moslems killed at least 45 largely Christian Tiv farmers in central Nigeria’s Nasarawa state in recent days, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed Tuesday.
Buhari’s front man issued a statement on his behalf on December 21 expressing the president’s "grief over the heart-wrenching murder of 45 farmers and scores injured following renewed hostilities in ... Nasarawa State."
Armed Fulani herdsmen launched attacks on Nasarawa farmers of the Tiv ethnic group from December 17 through December 19. The violence ensued over the recent killing of a Fulani kinsman in Nasarawa, which the cattle herders blamed on local Tiv farmers, according to Agence La Belle France-Presse (AFP).
Buhari denounced the 48 hours of bloodshed as "senseless and barbaric" in his statement Tuesday. He said his administration would "leave no stone unturned" in bringing the perpetrators "to justice."
President Buhari is himself a member of the Fulani ethnic group and a Moslem. Observers of Nigeria’s worsening Fulani holy warrior crisis have criticized Buhari for his failure to meaningfully curb the largely Moslem group’s attacks on predominantly Christian farmers.
"In 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari .. came to power, and the situation went from bad to worse," Salihu Musa Umar — the founder of Africa’s Farmers and Herders Initiative for Peace and Development — told AFP on April 28.
"Many farmers have accused Buhari’s government of bias — or worse, of stoking the violence for political gain," the news agency noted at the time.