One person has been injured, and sixty-two houses destroyed after suspected herders attacked farming communities in Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State.
It was learnt that the attack followed a dispute about a source of water.
The source of water, a pond, is located between Tor Bali and Atongo villages and is the bone of contention between the Tiv farming communities and Fulani herders.
According to the chairman of Bali Local Government Area, Aboki Dauda, peace was breached when a woman went to the pond to fetch water and was confronted by a cow that competed with her for water.
She was thereafter allegedly beaten by the herders. The woman later raised an alarm over the incident, which prompted reactions from members of her community.
“What happened here was terrible, you can see houses burnt, people displaced, but thank God that there was no life lost.
“Trouble started at the pond where the Tiv people were fetching water, the Fulani herders brought their cattle there, destroyed the area, and a woman who went to fetch water confronted them for spoiling the water by asking their cattle to drink from where they fetch to also drink,” he said.
“There and then, they attacked her with their sticks and she fell, cried, and called the husband and neighbours to assist her, and from there the crisis escalated all over the two communities.
”I took a bold step and summoned the leaders of the herders at the local government secretariat. We have identified them and warned that if such is repeated, they will be held responsible. The Fulani herders do not listen to their parents, that’s the problem we have with them.”