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Farmer-Herder Farmer-Herder Conflict NNG1170

A clash erupted between farmers and herders in Dadu community, Kwali Area Council, Federal Capital Territory, after cattle allegedly invaded and destroyed a beniseed farm belonging to one Yunana Garba. The confrontation escalated when Garba‘s son, Yunana Naroka, was struck on the head with a machete while attempting to drive the cattle out of the farm, while his father was hit on the neck with a herding stick. A Fulani woman, Amina Abdullahi, also sustained a machet wound to her hand during the altercation. The injured were evacuated to Goje Clinic in Ija and Abubakar Fatima Hospital in Kwali, where they were reported to be in stable condition.

13 Sept 2025 · Dadu, Kwali, FCT

Deaths

0

Injured

3

Kidnapped

0

Total casualties

3

Perpetrators

Communal/Ethnic Militias

Response

Joint security team (Army, Police, DSS, vigilantes) deployed immediately; calm restored; investigation ongoing.

Displacement

0

Socioeconomic drivers

Land/resource disputes, grazing conflicts

Trajectory

The Dadu clash is part of a broader pattern of escalating farmer‑herder violence in Kwali Area Council and the wider FCT during 2025. On 17 August 2025, four people were injured in a similar clash in Gwomani community, Kwali, also triggered by cattle allegedly destroying a beniseed farm. On 25 June 2025, a farmer, Baba Yakubu, was hacked to death in his farm in Mai Kwari village, Kwali, allegedly by Fulani herdsmen. These incidents suggest that Kwali LGA is emerging as a persistent flashpoint for farmer‑herder conflict within the FCT, with violence occurring at an accelerating frequency throughout 2025.

Cycle notes

The Dadu clash follows a tragically familiar script that has played out across the North‑Central and North‑West regions for decades: a dispute over crop damage escalates into physical violence, with machetes and herding sticks wielded as weapons. This pattern directly echoes the 2001 “Numan” crisis and the 2011 “Jukun/Tiv” communal wars, where minor disputes over crops or grazing repeatedly spiralled into mass killings. However, the Dadu incident differs in its resolution: the immediate deployment of a joint security team prevented escalation into a broader communal conflict, demonstrating that proactive, community‑integrated security responses can break the cycle. Nevertheless, the recurrence of such incidents in Kwali—with at least four major clashes documented in 2025 alone—indicates that the underlying drivers remain unaddressed.

Pattern

Farmer–herder clashes

Sources