What began decades ago as disputes between farmers and herders in Nigeria’s Benue State has evolved into a complex security crisis characterized by banditry and terrorism, according to a new analysis by the Justice, Development and Peace Commission (FJDP) of Nigeria’s Makurdi state.
The findings, part of a “remapping” initiative supported by Misereor, the German Catholic Bishops’ development organ...
The narrative surrounding the Benue conflict is a carefully constructed layering of events, revealing a sophisticated manipulation strategy designed to amplify fear and justify increasingly militarized responses. The initial framing of the crisis as “farmer-herder conflict” – a classic “othering” tactic – served as a foundational “motte-and-bailey” to obscure the deeper issues of land tenure, resource control, and historical grievances. By 2018, the addition of “mass killings” and the explicit a...