A fresh wave of coordinated attacks targeting herders in Plateau State has heightened fears of a looming cycle of retaliatory violence in a region already grappling with severe ethno-religious and communal tensions.
The incidents, which occurred on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, in Barkin Ladi and Jos East local government areas, involved gunmen rustling a total of 168 cattle in two separate assaults.
The Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in Plateau State, Ibrahim Yusuf Babayo, confirmed the incidents, stating that the stolen cattle belonged to three herders: Alhaji Wada Sale, Abdullahi Yusuf, and Alhaji Talba Abubakar.
The first attack took place around the Nding community in the Fan District, where 137 cattle were rustled by the gunmen.
A second assault followed in the Kukukah community, where 34 cattle were driven away, though three later returned home.
According to Babayo, he immediately alerted heads of security agencies, including the DSS, Operation Enduring Peace, and other formations.
Less than 24 hours later, the situation escalated with a new and disturbing incident reported in Riyom LGA.
Nine cows reportedly died instantly after allegedly consuming poisonous substances around Kwi village. This act, which is feared to be deliberate, has intensified anxiety among stakeholders who warn that the region is dangerously close to sliding back into a full-blown crisis of retaliatory violence.
Security experts and conflict analysts, Zagazola Makama have consistently warned that the deliberate targeting of herders through cattle rustling, ambushes, and poisoning—which threatens their entire livelihood—is a well-known trigger for violent reprisals that have historically shattered communities in Plateau State.
Across the affected LGAs—Barkin Ladi, Jos East, and Riyom—tension remains high. Pastoral families who suffered huge losses stressed that the attacks threaten their economic survival, while farming communities fear the possibility of retaliatory attacks, a cycle that has plagued the state for years.
According to Zagazola Makama, many stakeholders have voiced concern that the Plateau State Government has not taken firm steps to confront this predictable pattern of violence, leading to worries that the state’s apparent silence is widening existing communal cracks and emboldening criminal actors.
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