The orgies of violence leading to killings in Southern Kaduna, North West Nigeria have continued unabated despite the purported curfew imposed by the Kaduna State Government. The killings alleged to have been carried out by Fulani assailants and targeted mostly at Christians, have drawn the ire of Southern and Middle belt Leaders Forum, and the pan-social cultural groups of Afenifere, PAN-Niger Delta Forum and Ohaneze. They have called on the president, Muhammadu Buhari to step in and stop the wave of killings in the State that have claimed several lives.
They equally want the perpetrators of the heinous act to be brought to book. Since the past one week, over 63 people have reportedly been murdered, while the numbers of victims keep rising by the day with about 1000 people displaced from their homes. The massacres at Kukun Dagi and Gora Gan, for instance, is reported to have taken the lives of 33 persons including children aside from the scores said to have been hospitalized and are receiving treatments from gunshot injuries. It was also reported that on July 19 and 20, 2020, 27 people from Southern Kaduna were killed within the period of 24 hours by armed assailants alleged to be of Fulani ethnicity.
Earlier on July 20, 2020, 9 people lost their lives and an unknown number were injured and displaced following an attack on Gora Gan village in Zangon Kataf. In another killing spree, the trigger happy assailants were reported to have gunned down 15 youths, injuring around 30 people at a wedding reception in Kukun Dagi village in Kaura Local Government Area of the State around 10:30 pm. The series of attacks on communities in Zangon Kataf between this period was said to have left over a thousand displaced. It also reportedly lasted for three days despite military presence in the area. In a swift reaction the Adara Development Association, not wanting to leave anyone in doubt, was said to have highlighted the atrocities committed by Fulani marauders on Mai-Ido and neighbouring villages in Kacha Local Government Area on July 16, 2020, in which 32 people were abducted and four killed including one John Auta, Danjuma Bala and Christopher Ayuba.
The report also had it that on July 17th, 2020, one Mr. Ayuba Bulus from Doka Avong village in Kajuru L.G.A was said to have been murdered in his farm. The Fulani assailants, it was reported, looted and destroyed properties of a nearby Efele settlement and hacked to death Gloria Shagari 25, her children Dorcas 6, and Faith 3, and Hussaini Daudu 40, while a Baptist Church leader, Rev. Thomas Gambo narrowly escaped death but was critically injured and battling for his life in an undisclosed hospital. It is very sad that life has become very cheap in this part of the world. The worsening state of insecurity across the country occasioned by the nefarious activities of Boko Haram sect members and herdsmen have also continued to raise questions as to the efficacy or otherwise of our law enforcement agencies.
The most annoying part of it all is the failure of the government over time to effect any major arrest or bring the perpetrators to book to serve as a deterrent to others. As it were, the killings in Southern Kaduna have now caught the attention of the international community who now view them as acts of genocide. We recall that only recently the president travelled to Mali to mediate in the political impasse in the country, at a time when a major section of his own country was in turmoil. Charity they say, begins at home. It is time for the Buhari Government to act beyond rhetorics and ensure that peace is restored in Southern Kaduna before it degenerates beyond control.