No fewer than 28 persons have been reportedly killed by rampaging bandits in Southern Kaduna communities.
The bandits who attacked the communities Sunday night also razed houses.
The affected communities included Malagum 1 and Sokwong of Kagoro, in Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Reacting to the incident, Kaduna state chairman of CAN, Rev. John Joseph Hayab, said “This massacre has further proven that the killers of the Southern Kaduna people have not yet been neutralized as claimed.
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“The federal government and the security agencies must not let the killers escape. Those who committed this evil must be fished out, arrested, and brought to face justice.
“These renewed killings may be a strategy to scare the people from exercising their rights and to further increase fear and impoverish them.
Governor Nasir el-Rufai expressed deep regret at the report of the occurrence and prayed for the repose of the souls of those deceased, while sending condolences to their families. Given the efforts of the government, security forces, traditional institutions, and other essential players over the previous week, the Governor condemns the attacks as inhuman.
“The Governor has also asked the State Emergency Management Agency , SEMA, to promptly send relief goods to the areas.
“An urgent security intervention is being performed by the Defence Headquarters Operation Safe Haven, as the Commander who is also the GOC 3 Division Nigerian Army, Major General Ibrahim Ali, and Sector 7 Commander, Colonel Timothy Opurum are presently in the location.
“Accordingly, CAN condemned this barbaric act in the strongest terms but appealed for calm, calling on the government and security to rise to the duty of protecting lives and property.”
Recall that earlier this year, a lot of white paper committees were inaugurated to look into this challenge and come up with solutions.
Reverend Hayab noted that it is not a question of people not trusting law enforcement agencies, rather people who want to comment about the issue, don’t talk about it honestly without trying to be bias or bring some sentiments into it.
The reality is that when there are problems in Kaduna, the community comes together to solve them. Key actors return home and paint a picture of the crisis as tribal or religious in nature. According to Mr Hayab, certain governments that came into power did not allow for genuine and open dialogue.
“We have invited so many groups to come in there and wade into this matter and engage the people, but as the people are making effort to understand one another, then from the top, certain dramas will come and further divide them, because anything that needs to be addressed from a just and equitable manner, if they are addressed with sentiment and religious or tribal biases, just trigger another suspicion.
“When people are also posted to serve in the formations that are security formations nearby, and they come to locations that seems like a tribal or a religious agenda, it further makes the people not to trust and give their knowledge.
The Kaduna CAN Chairman said for a period of nine years, there was no crisis in the state owing to the fact that there were platforms for honest engagement, honest dialogue, and because these platforms were created, those in authority also showed deliberate commitment to make this platform work.
“Because you could create platform for engagement, but your body language shows that you don’t even care about the engagement. You are not honest about the engagement, so the engagements will not be fair”.
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