Gunmen suspected to be Fulani and Bassa militants razed ten houses in Idochie community, Dekina LGA, Kogi State, on Saturday at about 5:00 p.m.
Armed with AK‑47 rifles, they unleashed sporadic gunfire, forcing residents into nearby bushes.
A security source confirms they looted valuables—including a Jincheng motorcycle—before setting the homes ablaze, sparing only four structures, among them the village mosque.
Adamu Bala, a 45‑year‑old farmer and local vigilante, narrowly escaped the carnage.
“No life was lost, but the destruction was massive. They set fire to people’s homes and took whatever they could carry,” he told our correspondent as charred timbers smouldered under a bruised sunset.
Bala also alleged he recognised one of the attackers as a member of the Bassa community.
Shockingly, between January 2018 and August 2025, boundary and communal disputes have claimed at least 1,796 lives across Nigeria—Kogi State figures prominently among these flashpoints.
The infamous Tawari onslaught of January 2020 saw 29 villagers slaughtered and over 20 houses razed—highlighting a pattern of reprisal violence that continues to haunt Middle Belt communities.
Despite the swift deployment of security operatives, locals lament that reactive patrols and flawed intelligence sharing have failed to prevent recurring bloodshed.
Critics accuse Governor Yahaya Bello’s administration of ignoring the deep‑rooted land and resource grievances that fuel herder–farmer clashes.
Historically, Kogi’s agrarian communities have been besieged by conflicts driven by climate‑induced grazing pressures and religious fault lines between predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen and Christian farming groups.
As displaced families sift through ash and memories, this latest communal clash—branded the Idochie attack—raises fresh alarm over Nigeria’s security crisis, underscoring an urgent need for community‑centred reconciliation mechanisms before more villages share the same smouldering fate.
