The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the killing of three farmers, allegedly by armed Fulani herdsmen, who attacked the Mgbuji autonomous community in Eha-Amufu, Isi-Uzo Local Council of Enugu State, on Monday, June 9, 2025.

One person was also declared missing during the incursion by the armed herders.

In an appeal to the governments of Igbo states, the group urged the governors and leaders to implement a unified security system to prevent and effectively curb any planned invasions of the region by armed Fulani insurgents.

HURIWA warned that the governors would be individually held accountable if these attacks by armed herdsmen continued in Igboland.

“The governors should be warned that they may be sued before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, for failing to stop the killings of the citizens of the Igbo states by Fulani,” the group stated.

Citing local sources, HURIWA reported that the victims were ambushed on their farms, and a community leader, Ogenyi Samuel, expressed frustration over the continued attacks and criticised the government’s failure to take preventive action, noting that security forces often arrived to retrieve bodies.

Another community leader confirmed the recovery of three corpses and identified one of the victims as Isaiah from Otu-Mgbuji. He stressed that a search party had been deployed to locate the missing individual.

He alleged that previous attacks had gone unaddressed and that security personnel lacked logistical support, such as fuel, to conduct patrols.

The civil society organisation affirmed that the attack occurred nearly three months after women from seven Eha-Amufu communities protested persistent violence by herdsmen, resulting in at least 152 deaths and 49 kidnappings since 2021.

The rights group condemned the alleged inaction of Governor Peter Mbah in the face of continuous violent attacks and killings of Enugu citizens by armed Fulani terrorists infiltrating Enugu State from Benue and Kogi states without visible confrontation by armed security forces of the Nigerian State.

“We wonder why Governor Peter Mbah leaves Enugu communities vulnerable to attacks by armed herdsmen and non-state actors wielding the deadliest weapons of mass destruction,” the group expressed.

“We in HURIWA have repeatedly asked that the governors of the South-East states should come together and activate effective, efficient and foolproof proactive security measures to contain the persistent successful attacks by terrorists who are obviously armed Fulani herders.

“There is an urgent call for the political, religious, civil society organisations, and stakeholders in the South-East to take immediate steps to stop armed Fulani insurgents and terrorists from turning the South-East farming communities into killing fields.

“The governments of Enugu, Ebonyi, Anambra, Imo and Abia states are hereby urged to work together to defend the native lands of the Igbo and safeguard the Igbo communities from terrorist attacks by Fulani irredentists.

“In the event that regular armed security forces are failing to curtail these killings, the states of South-East are legally obliged to explore other options such as hiring private soldiers and setting up a regional security architecture to ward off these attacks,” the group added. (The Guardian)