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At about 7:30 pm on Mar. 29, 2026, Yusuf Katura, 76, was returning home when he was shot dead at Angwan Rukuba junction, near his home in Jos, Plateau State.
His wife, Laraba Yusuf, had just finished preparing food for her canteen when she heard gunshots. She initially assumed they were from National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) officers who regularly raid the area for suspected drug sellers.
But she soon saw people fleeing and young men dragging her husband’s body.
“The youth in the area brought his corpse to the front of our house. I held his legs and started crying. It was unbelievable to think that my husband would pass in such a tragic way,” Yusuf said.
“He was very influential in this community and was very friendly even to the youth.”
Katura was among more than 29 people killed that night, residents have said.
Enoch Garba, secretary of the Angwan Rukuba youth forum, said some attackers arrived in a van while others came on motorcycles. He said he called the divisional police officer of the nearest police station, but the attackers had fled before security personnel arrived.
The attackers’ identity and motive remain unknown, and no group has claimed responsibility. Residents, however, told TheCable they heard the attackers speaking Fulfulde, a language predominantly spoken by the Muslim Fulani ethnic group.
Rumours soon spread that Fulani Muslims had targeted the predominantly Christian community, reviving memories of decades of violence in Jos.
Yusuf in front of the obituary of her late husband. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
Bullet holes on the doors of a chemist shop at Agwan Rukuba. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
A bloody battle for indigeneity
Plateau State is home to dozens of ethnic groups. Mainly Christian groups such as the Berom, Afizere, Anaguta, Mwaghavul and Irigwe consider themselves indigenous, while Hausa and Fulani residents are often classified as ‘non-indigenes’, a description many reject.
They say the classification has subjected them to discrimination in jobs, land ownership, politics, scholarships and admission to the state-owned university. Hausa and Fulani residents in the state told TheCable that they are usually given ‘residential certificates’ in place of indigene certificates.
The question of who qualifies as an indigene of Plateau State has remained a source of tension, sparking a conflict that has persisted for more than two decades, predating the Boko Haram insurgency, which began in 2009.
In September 2001, protests broke out after a Hausa Muslim was appointed to head a federal poverty alleviation programme in Jos North. Human Rights Watch said some Christian-dominated ethnic groups in the state viewed the appointment as provocative.
On September 7 that year, an argument outside a mosque later escalated into violence between Christians and Muslims, leaving about 1,000 people dead.
Since 2001, conflicts in Plateau have consistently taken on strong ethnic and religious dimensions. More than 700 people were killed in clashes and reprisals in Yelwa in 2004, and in 2008 hundreds of people died in post-election violence in Jos.
A Senate report said about 12,000 people were killed in Plateau between 2001 and 2025.
Umar Musa, a Plateau State officer of Jama’atu Nasril Islam, said the conflict may take the shape of religion or ethnicity depending on the context, but could have been resolved earlier if the issue of indigene status had been addressed.
“There is a need for the government to be just. Everything that has to be done has to be done judiciously,” he said. “Everyone should have a right when it comes to education, when it comes to employment, when it comes to appointments.
“There should be no segregation. Everybody needs to be carried on board. Once that is done, it’s a step forward in trying to calm the conflict.”
Dengiyefa Angalapu, a research analyst at the Centre for Democracy and Development, said the problem of indigeneship can be traced to the Nigerian constitution, which recognises the concept but does not clearly define it.
He noted that while the issue is prevalent across many states, it has generated particular tensions in Plateau because of the way religion and ethnicity are used to mobilise and deepen sentiments.
“The challenge is the Nigerian state itself has not been able to solve the issue between settlers and indigenes. No matter how long you stay in a particular place, it’s difficult to claim to be an indigene of that place in the Nigerian context. It is not an action that the Plateau can solve on its own,” Angalapu said.
“The government should clearly state how long you can stay in a particular place to be called an indigene. We need to deal with the indigene question, and unfortunately in Nigeria it is not simple to resolve.”
ACLED data shows that Plateau State recorded 1,743 conflict events and 10,130 reported fatalities between February 1997 and August 2026, with violence driven mainly by attacks on civilians and armed communal clashes. Conflict declined briefly in the mid-2010s before intensifying again from 2019, with violence reaching increasingly high levels in subsequent years.
Deadly reprisals
A single conflict in one part of Jos can engulf the entire city or state. Deadly reprisals erupted across Jos after the Angwan Rukuba attack, with mobs divided along ethnic and religious lines targeting people they suspected belonged to opposing groups.
One victim was Ibrahim Haruna Abdulkareem, 32, an NYSC member who used a motorcycle to earn money in the evenings. A mob attacked him at Angwan Rukuba, allegedly accusing him of being among the attackers who invaded the community.
His brother, Aminu, said Ibrahim was targeted simply because he was Hausa and Muslim.
Aminu told TheCable he saw a video showing Ibrahim being dragged from a gutter and called a bandit. Another video showed his body being set on fire.
“I recognised my brother with his T-shirt, jacket and jeans. I am the one who gives my brother clothes, and I recognised that the clothes he wore were from my store. I showed his wife the video, and she confirmed that it was him, but she fainted immediately and was rushed to the hospital,” Aminu said.
He said Ibrahim’s wife was eight months pregnant when he was killed.
“I’m traumatised. I’m still trying to heal. He used to do all this community development work in our area. So, the loss is not only in our family. It’s beyond our family. The community lost him,” he said.
Aminu. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
Poor government response and fire in rural Plateau
Following the Angwan Rukuba attack and subsequent violence, Caleb Mutfwang, Plateau governor, imposed a 48-hour curfew in Jos. Sporadic violence resumed when the curfew was relaxed, leaving multiple casualties.
Joshua Pwakim, founder of the Youth Initiative Against Violence and Human Rights Abuse, said condemning attacks and imposing curfews afterwards was not enough.
He said the government had failed to develop a strategic response to the ethnic and religious narratives driving violence since the 2001 crisis.
Pwakim also questioned why religious leaders accused of inflammatory statements are rarely arrested or prosecuted.
He said politicians and religious leaders continue to exploit communities traumatised by past violence.
He noted that even the Plateau State Peacebuilding Agency, established in 2016, lacked resources to fulfil its mandate.
TheCable observed that the agency, which documents attacks, has not updated its records since 2023 despite several attacks in 2026.
“That peacebuilding agency has only been like a figurehead. There is no funding to support that agency. Hence, it has affected how that agency should have operated,” Pwakim said.
While crises periodically erupt in Jos, violence in rural Plateau has become more frequent and deadly. Residents blame the government for not doing enough to protect residents of rural communities in Plateau.
In rural communities, the conflict is a dangerous mix of ethnicity, religion, criminality, contest for grazing land, and the problem of indigeneity.
Clashes between mainly Muslim Fulani herders and predominantly Christian farmers, particularly Berom and Irigwe communities, have persisted for years.
The violence has fuelled claims that Fulani Muslims are orchestrating attacks to spread Islam, while others argue that Christian communities are defending their land against jihadists. This narrative has been used to back the United States (US) military presence in Nigeria.
In October last year, US President Donald Trump accused Nigeria’s government of ignoring the killing of Christians by “radical Islamists” and threatened to suspend US aid and take military action if the government failed to respond.
The Nigerian government rejected the claims, saying people of all faiths have suffered from the conflict.
Analysts link the violence to climate change and shrinking grazing land, while residents and experts told TheCable that the poorly managed 2001 Jos crisis helped spread tensions into rural areas.
Members of the ‘indigenous’ ethnic groups and Fulani told TheCable that before the 2001 crisis, there was a harmonious relationship between Fulani herders and farming communities, with both groups living peacefully alongside each other.
They said although there had been occasional conflicts in the past, they were managed and amicably resolved. But the ethno-religious crisis that spilt into rural areas destroyed that relationship.
Riyom LGA is among the worst affected. Between June and July this year, no fewer than 58 people were brutally murdered in the area.
Motorcyclers and tricyclers calling out to passengers at Angwan Rukuba junction. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
Rose Dachollom. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
Rose Dachollom, 32, lost her husband in January. She had taken her two teenage children to their farm in Sopp village in Riyom and found her husband’s body lying there. He had gone to the farm earlier.
“I was crying uncontrollably when I saw his corpse. I’m now the only one responsible for my children, and it is really difficult,” she said.
Dachollom said she reported the issue to the village immediately, and security operatives who combed the area saw a herder grazing cows near the scene. He was detained but was released briefly as they could not find a link to the murder.
Residents say at least 15 people have been killed or attacked on farms across Sopp in 2026, and not a single perpetrator has been arrested or prosecuted.
Clement Pam, village head of Sopp, attributed the attacks largely to competition over land. He said Sopp has seen multiple waves of attacks, especially since 2012, noting that a weak military security presence in the area has made it difficult to respond.
He accused the government of failing to protect communities and prosecute attackers.
Women working on a farm in Sopp village, Riyom. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
A military outpost in Sopp. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
“We believe the motivations behind these attacks are land grabbing and ethnic cleansing. This is one of the fertile lands on the Plateau, and that’s why it is very contested. Anything you plant here grows,” Pam said.
“Even when the attackers are arrested, you won’t hear of the issue again. Sometimes, we see people who were arrested and released back into the communities.”
Chuwang Bature, national chairman of the Sopp Development Association, showed TheCable photographs of victims killed in their homes.
“This family was killed in their sleep,” he said, pointing to a photograph of a woman holding a baby beside her husband and children, all of whom were shot dead.
Bature said the community wrote to the government in 2018, documenting attacks carried out by “Fulani militants”, but received no response or relief materials to help victims.
Chuwang Bature, national chairman of the Sopp Development Association. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
Graveyard of four men killed on a farm by rampaging herders in 2024 in Sopp. Photo Credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
An abandoned house in a deserted area of Sopp. Residents say many areas in Sopp remain deserted owing to frequent attacks. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
‘We are also victims’
While armed herders have attacked farming communities, armed youth from farming communities have also attacked herders, building up a cycle of retaliation.
In August, several Fulani residents of Jwak Maitumbi in Mangu LGA were killed by a militia. Less than 24 hours later, at least 23 people, including women and children, were killed in a suspected reprisal in Bin-Per community.
Fulani residents in Bassa LGA told TheCable that while they are widely perceived as perpetrators of attacks, they are also victims. They blamed the government’s failure to resolve the indigene-settler divide.
Shehu Zakariya, a herder in Rafiki, a Fulani settlement in Bassa, said he lost four sons in attacks he attributed to assailants from a neighbouring Irigwe-dominated village. His son Ibrahim, 22, was killed in 2018 while grazing cattle, and another son, Inusa, was killed in July this year.
He said his sons were killed for grazing on land that was said not to belong to them.
A young Fulani herder grazing his cattle at Rafiki, a Fulani settlement in Bassa LGA. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
Shehu Zakariya. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
Zakariya said Fulani communities across Bassa have repeatedly been forced to leave what they consider their ancestral land. He said his family was pushed out of Miango in 2020 by armed Irigwe men, despite having lived there for generations.
They currently live in a new settlement in Rafiki, which residents say has been attacked twice, with several people killed.
Graveyard where Zakariya’s murdered sons and other victims of attacks in Rafiki were buried. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
“I have never grabbed anybody’s land. Plateau is my home,” Zakariya said. “This is where I was born, and this is where I have always lived. I reported the killings to the police and soldiers. They visited our community, but no attempt was made to arrest the attackers.”
Woda Waziri, the ardo (ruler or head) of the Fulani settlement in Rafiki, showed TheCable a 2022 agreement between Fulani and Irigwe representatives to end the violence. It proposed a joint school and market, but Waziri said the Plateau government had implemented neither.
TheCable asked Waziri if members of the community have participated in retaliatory attacks against Irigwe ethnic farming communities, but he said no.
Woda Waziri with an agreement between the Fulani and Irigwe communities to end the violence. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
Meanwhile, news of attacks and retaliation in Bassa is not scarce.
Last April, gunmen attacked Zike and Kimakpa communities in Bassa, killing at least 51 people. The villages are near the Nigerian Army’s 3rd Division headquarters.
Ya’u Idris, a community member, warned that failure to hold perpetrators accountable could push victims towards retaliation.
Angalapu of the Centre for Democracy and Development said the attackers are rarely caught because the intelligence system used by the security agencies is still very crude. Instead, people are wrongly profiled and arrested because they look like criminals.
The Nigerian government has so far failed to find a lasting solution to the violence. In 2019, former President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani Muslim, proposed establishing grazing reserves and cattle colonies nationwide to curb killings. However, leaders in Plateau opposed the plan, viewing it as a ploy to enable herders to seize land and spread Islam.
A gaping hole of violence
Gerard Levy, CEO of RTCOM Defence, told TheCable that the poorly addressed crisis in Plateau State has created an opportunity for criminals across the country to exploit the situation and perpetrate crimes.
Nigeria is currently grappling with a kidnapping crisis, with criminal gangs increasingly carrying out abductions in Plateau. The state has also recorded cases of cattle rustling and deadly attempts by armed groups to control mining activities, with miners frequently attacked.
“What we are witnessing in Plateau should not be simplified as merely a religious conflict or a farmer-herder crisis anymore,” Levy said.
“Over time, these disputes have become increasingly militarised and have been exploited by criminals and armed groups. So, the result is a dangerous cycle, because what we see is an attack takes place, communities suffer casualties, accusations are exchanged, retaliations follow, and the security forces are repeatedly required to react to an event that has already happened.”
Levy said Nigeria must move from reactive security responses to a predictive, intelligence-led approach.
In January, President Bola Tinubu approved the recruitment of 1,000 forest guards for Plateau State to strengthen security. In April, Governor Mutfwang also pledged to immediately install a network of cameras to help law enforcement agencies identify perpetrators.
However, Levy said deploying additional personnel to support an already overstretched security force and installing surveillance cameras would only provide temporary solutions.
He said security forces currently operate with limited intelligence and rely heavily on measures such as roadblocks and patrols, which cannot provide adequate coverage across the state.
Instead, he advocated an intelligence-led approach that integrates surveillance sensors, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cameras, geographic information systems (GIS), artificial intelligence-supported analytics and command-and-control capabilities.
According to Levy, fusing these technologies in an integrated intelligence centre would enable security agencies to develop a common operational picture, anticipate threats and respond to attacks before they occur.
Victims such as Ishaya Adubok said they are tired of the persistent violence and want an end to the conflict.
Adubok, a student at the University of Jos, was shot in the leg during the Angwan Rukuba attack. His leg was broken, and he now relies on crutches to walk. The injury has kept him away from school.
Ishaya Adubok. Photo credit: Promise Eze/TheCable
“The injury has also cost me the opportunity to find daily bread because I fend for myself even as a student. The doctor said I may have to stay for about a year before I can walk properly. I am a victim of a crisis that should have ended long ago. We need an end to this,” he said.
TheCable contacted Alfred Alabo, spokesperson of the Plateau state police command, to find out how the command was responding to repeated attacks, ethnic and religious tensions, reprisals, limited security presence, and the difficulty of arresting and prosecuting perpetrators. However, as of press time, the command had not responded.
Meanwhile, on Sept. 4, 2026, heads of security agencies in the state held a strategic meeting to strengthen inter-agency collaboration and respond to emerging threats.
This report was produced with support from the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) under the CJID SAIL+ Fellowship.