ICC Note: Nigerian authorities have arrested nearly 100 Fulani suspects armed with machetes and heavy weaponry in Abuja and Nasarawa states who claimed to be on a mission to recover stolen cattle. Since 2001, radical Islamist Fulani militias continue to ravage agrarian Christian communities across Nigeria’s “Middle-Belt” states, murdering tens of thousands in brutal assaults aimed to depopulate Christian villages. The pervading narrative in the media and government calls these attacks “revenge” killings for cattle theft, but the scale and brutality that continues for decades represents a completely disproportionate reaction to alleged cattle theft.

4/19/16 Abuja, Nigeria (AllAfrica) – In its efforts to ensure a crime-free environment within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs, the troops from the Guards Brigade of the Nigerian Army on Sunday arrested about 92 suspected herdsmen within Abuja and Nasarawa State.

The Assistant Director Army Public Relations (ADAPR), Guards Brigade, Capt Bashir Jajira, disclosed this in a statement yesterday, saying that about 36 suspected herdsmen claimed to be on a mission to recover their alleged stolen cattle were stopped on their track at the check point bordering FCT and Nasarawa State.

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