Gunmen believed to be cattle thieves killed 15 herders in the latest bout of violence in northern Nigeria’s herding communities, police and a local official said Thursday.

“Armed bandits attacked Bawon-Daji village yesterday and killed 15 people,” the police spokesman for Zamfara state, Muhammad Shehu, told AFP.

His account was corroborated by a senior local government official, Gado Anka.

Anka told AFP motorcycle-riding gunmen stormed the remote village in Anka district around 1:00 pm (1200GMT), shooting dead 12 residents before fleeing to a hideout in the bush.

“They returned two hours later and attacked mourners during the funeral of the victims in the cemetery, killing three more and injuring several others,” he said.

Rural communuties in the agrarian state are under siege from gangs who kill, loot and torching homes.

This has prompted villages to form vigilante groups — which in turn are often accused of extra-judicial killings of suspected cattle thieves, prompting deadly reprisals by the gangs.

It was not clear if the latest killings were as a result of reprisals.

In February, dozens of people were killed when gunmen opened fire on traders and villagers at Birane, in the Zurmi area of the state.

Sowore’s movement slams FG for not signing Africa free trade deal

The Take Back Nigeria Movement has condemned the President Muhammadu Buhari led-Federal Government for mismanaging Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement.

The movement, promoted by Omoyele Sowore, in a release on Thursday, said it was disappointing that Nigeria was absent when African nations gathered to sign the ACFTA on March 21.

It said Nigeria which is Africa’s most populous nation and largest economy should have taken a key role in shaping the negotiations because it would have been beneficial to the country’s economic and security interests.

The movement said, “Instead of providing leadership, the Muhammadu Buhari government has exported its shambolic approach to governance at home to the continental stage.

“Just days after the Federal Executive Council approved Nigeria’s participation in the agreement; the Buhari government announced it would no longer be participating because some key stakeholders were not consulted.”

The movement lamented that it is unconscionable that it is at this late stage in the process that the Buhari government is realising that it ought to have engaged with stakeholders.

It stated that the movement believes that the economy of a nation as large as Nigeria, and decisions that impact the lives of almost 200 million people should not be taken lightly or on the whims of one man.

The movement assured Nigerians that it will move swiftly to make sure that the country’s leadership on the global stage continues as well as join a continental free trade agreement that would affirm the following principles; promotes the economic well being of Nigeria’s people, prevents the dumping of goods into Nigeria, ensures a rapid and sustainable growth of the Nigerian economy, assures reciprocity in access to markets among others.

The movement also assured Nigerians from all walks of life that they would be carried along in its deliberation. It said the opinion on Nigerians will not be considered at the dying minute as it has become the norm in Buhari’s administration.