A group of Nigerians under the aegis of Plateau State Association Friday London staged a protest at the Nigerian High Commission against the Plateau killings.

The over 30 protesters marched to the Nigerian High Commission in the early hours of Friday to deliver their petition to a representative of Commission.

Plateau State police commissioner Undie Adie confirmed 86 people dead in an attack on Saturday in Barikin Ladi area of the state. Suspected herders have been accused of being behind the deaths.

Over 200 people have been killed in the last 30 days attacks by suspected nomadic herders against farming communities in restive central Nigeria.

The security challenges are the latest in a long-running battle putting President Muhammadu Buhari under pressure as the 2019 general elections approach.

The attacks fueled by ethnic, religious and political allegiances have killed thousands over several decades.

Analysts believe it could become Nigeria’s biggest security concern, eclipsing Boko Haram’s Islamist insurgency that has left at least 20,000 dead since 2009.

Last Sunday, ethnic Berom youths set up barricades on the Jos-Abuja highway and attacked motorists who looked “Fulani and Muslim”, according to those who escaped the violence.

Plateau state police spokesman Tyopev Terna and Major Adam Umar, from the military task force in the state capital, Jos, confirmed the blockade and vandalism to several cars.

There were no official reports of deaths but Baba Bala, who escaped the violence on the road, said at least six people were killed.

The Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong and the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria on (CAN) in the 19 northern states on Thursday held talks with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa.

The leaders demanded a review of the country’s security apparatus with a view to ending the killings.

Lawmakers have earlier this month demanded that Buhari address worsening security across the country, accusing police of failing to prevent the violence.

On Sunday, Senate president Bukola Saraki said the killings gave the impression that Nigeria was “not safe”.

It was “important for Nigerians to start having the assurances that the government is decisively responding to the current threat to lives and property,” he said.

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