Violent clashes among communities in Gombe and Adamawa states in the past week have claimed at least 13 lives.
The actual number of those killed could not be confirmed. The Xinhua news agency said at least 15 people were confirmed dead and the Daily Post reported that 18 people had been killed.
Muhammed Suleiman, the executive secretary of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency in Yola, told RNI reporter Umar Bukar Gaji that the clashes involved peoples of the Waja and Lunguda ethnic groups.
Suleiman said three villages in Adamawa State – Falu, Walu and Lanza – had been razed. Several people had been injured and wounded and they were receiving treatment at the Cottage Hospital and other healthcare facilities in Guyuk. Those who were seriously injured and wounded were being treated at the Specialist Hospital in Yola.
He said 1,200 people had been displaced and were being accommodated at the Central Primary School in Guyuk before being registered to go to internally displaced persons’ camps.
Suleiman Yahaya, public relations officer of the Adamawa State police command, said the number of casualties was not yet known.
Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, the governor of Gombe, told Xinhua that a curfew had been imposed following the clashes.
He said the suspected attackers crossed from the neighbouring state of Adamawa, adding that security personnel had been deployed to restore normalcy. The curfew would continue until further notice.
Muhammadu Yahaya confirmed that communal clashes had occurred repeatedly in the past. “These have resulted in many lives being lost and the destruction of villages and properties.” The clashes were believed to be reprisals on a farmland tussle between the Waja and Lungunda ethnic groups that began in Adamawa in 2017. Tension and anxiety had been mounting in many of the communities along the borders of the Gombe and Adamawa states.
Some villages inhabited by Wajas and Lungudas had been deserted for fear of attack.
A source told the Daily Post that Waja/Lunguda hostilities started again early last year in Gombe State when communities predominantly inhabited by Lunguda were selectively attacked and their homes burnt down.
