A communal clash erupted in Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru LGA, Kaduna State. The violence started on Thursday, October 18, 2018, around 5:30 PM at the local market. It began as a disagreement among Hausa Muslim and Adara Christian youths over where traders should offload their wares. The conflict quickly escalated, leading to widespread violence, arson, and loss of life
20 Oct 2018 · Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru, Kaduna
Deaths
38
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
38
Perpetrators
Communal/Ethnic Militias
Response
The Kaduna State Government has imposed a 24-hour curfew on the community.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Disputes regarding market access and trade rights exist due to underlying ethno-religious tensions between the Hausa Muslim and Adara Christian communities in Southern Kaduna.
Trajectory
Highlights the fragile inter-communal relations in Southern Kaduna and how minor market disputes can rapidly escalate into deadly ethno-religious violence.
Cycle notes
This incident strongly echoes the recurrent ethno-religious and communal conflicts that have shaped much of Northern Nigeria's security landscape, particularly in Southern Kaduna. Comparable episodes include the May 1992 Zangon Kataf crisis, which resulted in significant loss of life and widespread destruction; the February 2000 Kaduna religious riots that claimed hundreds of lives; the 2011 post-election violence across parts of Northern Nigeria, including Southern Kaduna, which left more than 500 people dead; and the wave of farmer-herder and communal clashes between 2016 and 2017 in Southern Kaduna that reportedly caused over 700 fatalities. The incident therefore reflects a longstanding pattern of retaliatory violence rooted in ethnic, religious, and communal divisions across Kaduna State and neighbouring parts of Northern Nigeria.
Pattern
Communal clashes and rural attacks
Related — Communal Violence
An ethnic crisis erupted in Takum following the alleged killing of a Jukun youth by Kuteb youths. The single incident sparked a violent communal clash between the two groups, resulting in significant casualties and mass displacement. Governor Danbaba Suntai publicly reacted to the crisis, expressing pessimism that the killings among the communities would ever end. The state government's reaction was one of being “seemingly overwhelmed” and “clueless.”
On Saturday, six young farmers from the Godogodo area went to their farms together. They were attacked by armed Fulani men who shot at them and hacked at them with machetes. Some of the farmers managed to escape, suffering from bullet wounds. However, on Sunday, a search party discovered the six victims dead, their bodies "ridden with bullets and machete cuts." The police transported their remains to the mortuary in Kafanchan.
Ikyaior community was attacked, resulting in the killing of 14 people (12 Tiv, 2 Igbo).