PETER CUNLIFFE-JONES, Tudun Adabu | Thursday
RESIDENTS of this village in a remote corner of central Nigeria say that 58 people died when ethnic Tiv youths attacked the area two days ago, the worst single reported massacre in a spate of ethnic killing.
News of the massacre in Tudun Abadu when it reached the Nasarawa state capital, Lafia, provoked anti-Tiv rioting there on Tuesday but the town was calm on Wednesday.
“We have buried 58 dead bodies. There are many casualties in the hospitals. This was a massacre,” said Simon Maku, a community leader in Tudun Aduba.
“They were killing us everywhere. My own father was killed, Maku Simon Maku. His head was broken with a machete.”
Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Adamu on Wednesday confirmed 27 dead in the village and said many more had been wounded. More dead were feared, he said.
Ethnic clashes erupted in this area of Nasarawa on June 12 following the killing of a Hausa-speaking traditional ruler. Tens of thousands of Tiv have fled. Most of the dozens of people reported killed have been Tiv.
Speaking in the semi-deserted village on Thursday, a local councillor, Haruna Usman, said that 58 was the final death toll in this village.
“Up to yesterday (Wednesday) we were still finding bodies in the bush. It is 58 we have buried,” he said.
In one house, five people, including two children, had been killed, the blood stains splattered across the walls, pools of dried blood spreading across the floor. The ruins of a burned motorbike lay in the corner.
The killers were ethnic Tiv youths, villagers said.
“I knew some of them. Some of them were my pupils,” said Andy Ibrahim Anzaku, a teacher at a local school.
“I woke up at 5:30am on Tuesday and there was just shooting everywhere,” he said. “We tried to flee but we could not. The first they killed was the village chief. After him, they went for prominent people and then the children. My own step mother was killed,” he said.
“She was cut down by a machete in front of my house,” he said, showing a blood-stained patch of earth in front of his door.
There was a group of around 50 men left in the village, most houses were closed up. All the women and children had gone.
“This was a massacre. I did not imagine anything like this could happen here. I have heard of tribal wars in other places, in Sierra Leone or Liberia. I never imagined it here,” Anzaku said. – AFP