Suspected Fulani herdsmen killed at least 23 people in central Nigeria, the latest clash in a long-running battle with farming communities in the restive region, police said Tuesday. 

"There was an attack by unknown gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen on three villages in Logo local government area, (Benue) state," said police spokesman Austin Ezeani, referring to  Saturday's violence. 

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan is handing over a country in its worst-ever state, the main opposition said on Sunday, as fuel shortages and economic woes crippled the nation.

"Never in the history of our country has any government handed over to another a more distressed country," All Progressives Congress (APC) spokesman Lai Mohammed said in an emailed statement.

Eight people were killed on Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a livestock market in northeast Nigeria, a local lawmaker and a resident told AFP.

The blast happened at about 1:15 pm (1215 GMT) in the village of Garkida in Adamawa state, said state assembly lawmaker Jerry Kundusi and witness Abdullah Musa.

Boko Haram gunmen have killed three people and abducted seven women in a raid on a northeast Nigerian district previously declared safe by the military, a local official said on Tuesday.

Dozens of Islamist fighters late on Saturday stormed a village in the Madagali district of Adamawa, which the defense ministry said had been cleared of insurgents in March.

A girl about 12 years old carried out a suicide attack at a bus station in northeastern Nigeria on Saturday, killing seven and injuring 31,  witnesses said, shortly after officials revealed that Boko Haram Islamists had recaptured a strategic town in the region.

"A girl aged about 12 detonated an explosive under her clothes as she approached the station's perimeter fence," said Danbaba Nguru, a shopkeeper who witnessed the attack in the town of Damaturu.

Boko Haram Islamists have recaptured the strategic town of Marte in northeastern Nigeria's restive Borno state, a regional official said early on Saturday.

"It is sad as we have been made to understand that Marte has today completely fallen under the control of the insurgents, which to us is a very huge setback," said Mustapha Zannah, vice governor of the Borno state.

At least 55 people were killed in two Boko Haram raids this week near Maiduguri, capital of restive northeastern Nigeria's Borno state, local and vigilante sources said Friday.

"Boko Haram fighters raided Bale and Kayamla villages where they killed at least 55 people and burnt several homes after looting them before proceeding to the outskirts of Maiduguri‎ where they were crushed by troops," vigilante official Abacha Zinnari said.

Lead poisoning has killed 28 children in central Nigeria's Niger state, the government has said, in the latest incident that has claimed hundreds of lives in recent years.

"As at 12th May, 2015, 65 cases and 28 deaths had occurred giving a case fatality rate of 43 percent," junior health minister Fidelis Nwankwo told reporters in Abuja.

At least three soldiers, six vigilantes and dozens of Boko Haram insurgents have been killed during clashes in the restive northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, sources said on Thursday.

The Islamist militants launched an attack on the Borno state capital on Wednesday evening but were repelled by Nigerian troops after intense fighting, residents and the army said.

Chad's President Idriss Deby has called for better coordination between coalition forces fighting Boko Haram in northeast Nigeria, warning that the group has been wounded but not defeated.

"If we still have to fight and catch (Boko Haram leader) Abubakar Shekau, the armies have to work together," Deby said on a visit to Nigeria's capital Abuja on Monday to meet outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan.