The Defence Headquarters has pointed to the infiltration of foreign herders as the main cause of recent deadly attacks in Benue, Plateau, and other areas across Nigeria.
During a media briefing held in Abuja on Thursday, the Director of Defence Media Operations, Major General Markus Kangye, revealed findings that suggest many of the attackers involved in these violent incidents are not Nigerian nationals.
Maj. Gen. Kangye noted that both linguistic differences and physical features clearly show that many of these armed herders originate from outside the country. “When you hear them speak, you can often tell they are not from here. For example, the Hausa spoken in Nigeria differs from that spoken in Mali, the Central African Republic, or Ghana,” he said.
He added that investigators had also identified distinct physical traits in some of the suspects. “When we arrest these herders and terrorists, their speech and even their hair distinguish them from Nigerians. Perhaps only the Shuwa Arabs in Borno State have similar features, but not quite the same,” Kangye explained.
These remarks come at a time when public anger continues to rise over the repeated clashes between herders and farmers, particularly in central Nigeria.
Hundreds of lives have been lost in the violence, and thousands of residents have been forced to flee their homes. Many of the displaced are currently staying in overcrowded Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.
Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has also raised similar concerns, accusing foreign herders of taking advantage of the ECOWAS free movement agreement to enter Nigeria without checks. He believes this has worsened the already fragile security situation in affected regions.
While acknowledging that some local herders have also caused conflict by grazing on farmlands, Kangye noted that the most frequent and deadly attacks appear to come from outsiders.
“Some of those involved are Nigerians who encroach on farmlands during cattle grazing, leading to conflict. However, the most dangerous and frequent attacks come from infiltrators who enter through our porous borders,” he said.
He urged better cooperation among security agencies, especially those responsible for managing the country’s borders, to stop the flow of armed groups into Nigeria.
In the same briefing, Maj. Gen. Kangye shared updates on military operations across different regions. Notably, troops arrested Buhari Umar, a notorious arms dealer and kidnap kingpin known for criminal activities in Gombe, Bauchi, Plateau, and Kaduna.
In another operation, a five-man kidnapping gang was captured in Lafia Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. The suspects were named as Hassan Mohammed, Saleh Sani, Idi Yusuf, Adamu Danmai, and Hassan Bello.
In the South-East, soldiers also neutralised a gang leader known as Nkwachi Eze, also called Onowu, who was wanted for leading numerous attacks and abductions.
According to Kangye, military efforts in April alone led to the rescue of 173 kidnapped victims and the surrender of 204 terrorists and their family members.
Additionally, security forces arrested 430 suspects linked to oil theft and other crimes. Under Operation Delta Safe, troops stopped oil theft estimated at over ₦1.93 billion within just one week.
“We recovered over one million litres of stolen crude oil, large volumes of illegally refined products, and dismantled 95 illegal refining sites,” he said.
