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Silent Triggers of Conflict: The Poisoning of 28 Cattle and Another Unfolding Crisis in Plateau
Silent Triggers of Conflict: The Poisoning of 28 Cattle and Another Unfolding Crisis in Plateau
By Zagazola Makama
In the quiet, hilly expanse of Zamura community in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State, a tragic scene unfolded on April 16. 28 cows, while grazing under the afternoon sun, dropped dead allegedly poisoned by unknown individuals. What may appear to be an isolated incident is which doesn’t appear in news or make headlines, in fact, a window into the deeper and more enduring fault lines that continue to plague Plateau State.
This was just few days after cattle were rustled in Murish village, Mangu Local Government Area, by a group of about 30 youths. One of the herders, 21-year-old Abdullahi Suleiman, remains missing. Of the rustled livestock, only 11 have been recovered. No trace of the perpetrators or arrest were made. At the time, this incidences were taken place, the people of Kimakpa Village in Miango District have not overcome the aftermath of the brutal massacre of innocent men, women and children who were attacked in their sleep by what the government agencies said were unknown gunmen. But are the perpetrators really not known,”? NO.
The recurring cycle of these violence and reprisal in parts of Plateau is often viewed through the lens of religious, land occupation and ethnic tensions. But it is not about land. It is no longer credible to suggest that these attacks are merely about land grabbing or cattle grazing disputes. However, beneath these headlines lie silent triggers of unreported incidences that stoke anger, fuel mistrust, and perpetuate conflict in communities already teetering on the edge.
The individuals who are perpetrating these attacks are known. They lived within the communities. Yet, no one is willing to point fingers in the right direction. No one dares to break the silence and no arrest will be made at the end of the day. And even when perpetrators are caught in the act, top officials, traditional rulers and the security agencies will always find a way to disposed the cases without allowing justice to prevail.
The National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has recently emphasized the urgent need for a shift from reactive disaster response to proactive, anticipatory action, describing it as a national security imperative. Ribadu who made the remarks at a high-level workshop on “Coordinated Risk Monitoring and Communication for Floods and Other Disasters,” held at the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) on Wednesday April 16, 2025.
He warned that poorly managed disasters could trigger cascading security risks, including mass displacement, the destruction of critical infrastructure, and the deepening of societal fragilities. “Unmanaged disasters exacerbate insecurity and fuel vulnerabilities. If we fail to prepare, we risk overwhelming our response systems when crises occur,” Ribadu added.
The reason crises continue is because no one is ever held accountable,” said a local elder in Miango District. “Whether it’s a poisoned cow or those who burnt villages, people act with impunity, knowing nothing will happen in the end. The most concerning aspect of incidents like this is not just the loss, but the aftermath. For pastoralist communities, cattle are not just animals. They represent livelihood, heritage, and sustenance. To lose nearly thirty animals in one day without warning or confrontation represents a devastating economic and emotional loss. For many herding families, this is the equivalent of losing their farms, homes, and life’s savings in a single act,”he said.
In Plateau State, mistrust between farming and herding communities has persisted for decades. Efforts at peacebiulding whether through state government panels, non-governmental interventions, or community dialogues often fail to address the granular realities of life in rural conflict prone areas. These include issues of land access, grazing routes, resource competition, and crucially, justice on both sides. For many in Plateau, peace remains elusive not because of a lack of effort, but because of the absence of consistent, fair, and timely responses to incidents that ignite violence by the state government and other response agencies. When cattle are poisoned, and perpetrators go unidentified; when farmers or communities are attacked, and no arrests are made each failure builds a wall of silence and suspicion between neighbours.
Security may contain violence temporarily, but true peace requires addressing the root causes. In Kimakpa, Kimakpa, Zamura and other parts of Bassa, these causes are deeply embedded in the daily lives of ordinary people farmers and herders, youth and elders, victims and survivors.
As Plateau State continues its journey toward recovery and reconciliation, incidents like the mass cattle poisoning are stark reminders that peace is not just the absence of gunfire. It is the presence of fairness, of justice, and of deliberate efforts to dismantle the small but deadly acts that make violence feel inevitable.
Until those foundations are built and built in truth the crisis in Plateau may remain unsolved.
Zagazola Makama is a Counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad Region.
Silent Triggers of Conflict: The Poisoning of 28 Cattle and Another Unfolding Crisis in Plateau
Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised
By: Zagazola Makama
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF), under the Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), conducted a successful Air Interdiction (AI) mission at a terrorists’ hideout in the Southern Tumbuns general area in the Lake Chad of Borno, killing scores of the terrorists.
Intelligent sources told Zagazola Makama that the precision air strike, which took place at about 2100 hours on 5 May 2025, targeted a major terrorists’ concentration camp located in the Tumbuma Baba axis of Lake Chad.
The sources said that the offensive was in continuation of a decisive Operation KALACHEN WUTA II, aimed at denying terrorists the freedom to execute large-scale attacks during the Eid el-Kabir period.
The sources said that Intelligence and Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) reports confirmed that several terrorists were neutralised during the strike, and key logistics under heavy foliage were destroyed.
The sources said that the strikes followed credible intelligence on planned coordinated attacks by the insurgents before, during, and after the Eid festivities. The mission was meticulously planned and executed to forestall such threats and sustain pressure on terrorist elements operating in the Lake Chad fringes.
“We observed significant secondary explosions, indicating the presence of arms and fuel storage. Multiple terrorists were seen fleeing the area, while several others were eliminated during the strike,” the source said.
The sources said efforts are ongoing to gather further feedback, as well as to assess the operational impact of the interdiction.
He added that preliminary signs suggest a high level of disarray and panic within the terrorists’ ranks, with reports of attempted regrouping under surveillance.
Airstrike Hits ISWAP Enclave in Tumbuma Baba, scores Nutrialised
Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani
By: Zagazola Makama
The Nigerian Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai have executed a coordinated strike on a major terrorist enclave located at Maisani in the Timbuktu Triangle general area of Borno State, killing several ISWAP terrorists.
Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the air interdiction mission conducted on May 4, 2025, at approximately 1800 hours, was informed by credible intelligence and sustained surveillance, targeted terrorists’ structures cleverly concealed and camouflaged under thick shrubs in the area.
The sources said that using advanced platforms, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) conducted a focused Air Interdiction (AI) mission, resulting in the destruction of the identified enemy hideouts and the neutralisation of an unconfirmed number of insurgent fighters.
According to the sources, Post-strike Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) obtained from our Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms confirmed that the airstrike achieved its intended objectives, dealing a significant blow to terrorists.
Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani
Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting
By: Michael Mike
As the world marks the 2025 Environment Day, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the World Bank for support on capacity building, data and in addressing the challenges poised by Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in the country.
Head of Department, National Accounts Energy and Environment at the NBS, Dr. Baba Madu made the appeal at the 2025 Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Conference on Thursday in Abuja with support from the World Bank in. collaboration with the NBS and the Federal Ministry of Environment.
Madu while noting that the NCA was a new area Nigeria must exploit to further boost the nation’s economy, said for Nigeria to grow and be at par with other developed nations, there was need to account for her natural resources.
He said: “NCA has been tasked with the crucial role of integrating natural capital into economic measurement. It is impossible to measure the economy accurately without accounting for natural resources. Issues such as environmental degradation, afforestation, desertification, and climate change all directly impact productivity.
“Productivity in turn, influences output—one of the core components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These environmental factors must be reflected across all economic activity sectors to present a more accurate picture of national output.”
While stating that Nigeria currently has data on NCA in Nigeria, the NBS official however raised concerns over the huge data gap from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the environment sector.
He said: “We are not doing badly but we need to improve on what we are doing. In terms of data sources, I can tell you there’s a big gap because these are new areas needed to be exploited.”
Programme Leader on Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Vina Vutukuru, said there was need to jointly
explore the vital role of national accounting in national development plans and to brainstorm on how Nigeria could institutionalize it.
He said: “Establishing the national capital accounting as part of the national account system will allow us to measure the economic value of ecosystem services such as clean air, water and biodiversity which are essential for our well-being and economic prosperity.”
Vutukuru commended Nigeria for having “very bold ambitions” as far as responding to climate change was concerned saying, “That shows the commitment of the policy makers here towards the issue of climate.
“But I think to back up that aspiration and the aggressive goals that Nigeria has set for itself, the foundational thing for those goals to materialize those objectives to come true is a very strong natural account system.”
Head of Media, National Council on Climate Change Secretariat (NCCCS), Chioma Azie who represented her Director General, Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe at the event, described Nigeria as a very ambitious country, stressing that natural resources was instrumental to achieving all the objective of climate action.
She said: “Technology, policy reforms, behavioral changes has a role to play but natural resources is very key because they’re underpinning the mitigation and adaptation for climate action.
“If you look at Nigeria’s NDC, the NCA is an avenue to provide raw materials that we could use to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies.
“If you look at what we have done in terms of this NDC in 2020.which is the second leg of the NDC, we identified a lot of mitigation activities within this mentioned sectors of ours. In agricultural sector we talked about smart agriculture. What is smart agriculture without natural resources?
“We talked about biomass, what is biomass without natural resources? We also spoke about land use changes and that is natural resources, we talk about natural solutions and we talked about also afforestation, reafforestation. Those are mitigation potentials of our NDC. So, we cannot achieve our NDC without SEEA.
“What you cannot be able to account for is recorded as if it is not done so if we know what is existing in terms of the reservoirs we have for natural resources, it can inform the scope of the mitigation activities we’re going to be imputing in the NDC 3.0,” she said.
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