Nine women who were purportedly slain in Monday’s shooting incident during a communal confrontation in Lamurde Local Government Area (LGA), Adamawa State, were buried in a mass on Tuesday.
Thousands of community members and mourners attended the somber ceremony, which was held at the Lamurde LGA Secretariat grounds. They took the opportunity to call for prompt justice and responsibility.
Florence Frank, Suzy Tanko, Marry Talmon, Mercy Kennedy, Lucky Yakubu, Pwamwasari Tami, Mary Shikauno, Destiny Gibson, and Hunbokwama Nickson were the names of the deceased victims.
The victims’ bodies, wrapped in mats and placed side by side, stoked the community’s indignation at what many are referring to as a “unjustified military assault.”
Using the funeral, the Bwate Youth Wing, which speaks for the Bachama-speaking villages, vehemently denounced the Nigerian Army and claimed that military members were directly to blame for the killings.
“We maintain without hesitation that the army opened fire on innocent women, resulting in deaths and injuries,” said Abner Kwakano, Secretary-General of the Youth Wing. The community has seen firsthand that this is the reality.
The youth wing claimed that anything short than complete responsibility would be an insult to the victims’ memories and called for an open, impartial probe.
The Nigerian Army has vehemently denied any involvement in the civilian deaths through Headquarters 23 Brigade Garrison.
It stated that on Monday, December 8, 2025, at around 1:30 AM, a combined security force consisting of the Army, Police, NSCDC, and DSS responded to fighting between the Bachama and Chobo tribes over land disputes.
According to the Army, a militia group believed to be fighting for the Chobo village ambushed the forces during operations, leading to a gunfight in which three militants were killed.
A distress call regarding a planned attack on the Lamurde Local Government Secretariat was subsequently received by the troops. Women blocked the road to prevent access as they moved to seize it, while armed men who were thought to be fighting for the Bachama village fired randomly throughout the region.
No woman was shot or hurt by Army members, the Army said. It claimed that two ladies who were subsequently taken to the Local Government Lodge were slain as a result of local militias’ careless handling of firearms.
The story was further complicated when the Chobo Youth Forum refuted allegations that its tribal militia started the violence in a statement signed by Engineer Gideon Sam.
The forum claimed that a Bachama militia had destroyed the villages of Chobo communities, and it called attempts to hold them accountable for the initial attack “false, misleading, and dangerous.”
Amnesty International’s Nigeria office has responded to the contradictory allegations, noting that the organization verified that soldiers killed the nine demonstrators based on testimonies from witnesses and the relatives of the dead.
