Claimants and counter-claimants in the ongoing dispute over violent attacks and killings in Plateau State have pitted the Berom Youth-Moulders Association (BYM) against the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).
On Tuesday, the BYM expressed its displeasure with the state chapter of MACBAN for what it deemed as an inaccurate account of events. The Fulani group had claimed, in their statement, that a group of “Berom Militias” had attacked herders and their cattle in Jos South Local Government Area on Friday, June 5, 2026, killing a 15-year-old herder.
According to a statement released by Ibrahim Yusuf Babayo, the state’s MACBAN chairman, young people from Berom attacked herders in Sabon Gidan Kanar hamlet, killing one youngster named Sadi Aliyu and eleven cows.
The herders, according to Babayo, were doing nothing more than caring for their cattle when the assailants barged in and started shooting at them.
As the victim and his colleagues were out tending to their cattle when the assailants opened fire, it is clear that the attack was instigated. The gunfire killed one herder and thirteen livestock. The chairman of the MACBAN had previously stated that eleven animals were still missing.
He went on to say that the ongoing attacks on innocent herders and their cattle are intolerable and endanger the safety and harmony of Plateau State.
In response to MACBAN’s accusations, the BYM issued a statement on Tuesday claiming that the attackers were “Berom Militias”—a label that is not only deceptive but also completely without merit.
According to a statement released by Rwang Tengwong, the National Publicity Secretary of BYM, the Fulani bandits have been carrying on a rampage, capturing and looting rural towns, and murdering innocent people.
“Regarding MACBAN’s assertions, the information gathered from the impacted community points to armed Fulani terrorists exploiting the early morning rainfall last Friday to attack the unwary Ful residents who had ventured out to seek food and shelter before the rain started,” Tengwong stated.