No evidence of Fulani herders being forcibly evicted from Aba city in Nigeria
IN SHORT: According to several Facebook posts, young people in the city of Aba in Nigeria have evicted Fulani herders who were planning to attack the area. But we found no evidence of this.
"BREAKING NEWS: Fulani herdsmen on the run in Aba, Abia State, after Aba youths uncovered plans by some Fulani to attack the city," begins a message circulating on Facebook in March 2025.
Aba is a major commercial city in Abia state, southeastern Nigeria.
The message also claims: "The youths destroyed the herders' settlement and chased them beyond the state border. Some Fulani vanished, while others Ran, and strangely, some of their cows refused to die despite multiple gunshots. Currently, some Fulani are taking refuge in Aba police station, while others are hiding in an army barracks."
The Fulani are a widely dispersed group of mainly Muslim cattle herders scattered across West Africa. In Nigeria, conflict between Fulani herders and local farming communities has escalated in recent years due to competition over land and resources.
Some Fulani groups have been linked to armed attacks, kidnappings and banditry, but there is no evidence that all Fulani herders are involved in criminal activities.
The same claim has been posted here, here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this post.)
But is there evidence for it? We checked.
No evidence to support this claim
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Fulani herders' activities have been making headlines for years, especially when they clash with local communities. But there are no reports of them being chased out of Aba. Instead, on 5 March, a group of young people in the southeastern state of Enugu accused Fulani herders of rape and murder and gave them 48 hours to leave the area.
If some of the herders were indeed "taking refuge in Aba police station", Abia state police would most likely have issued a statement about it. But we found nothing about this on their X account or elsewhere.
The state government would have also addressed the matter if it were true. We searched its website for such a development and came up empty.
There is no evidence to support the claim that young people in Aba have chased Fulani herders out of the area.
The same claim can be found here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
