Press release – We are a group of professionals and well-meaning individuals of Southern Kaduna origin concerned over the continued killing and annihilation of our people and wish to make a firm statement calling for immediate government’s action to stop the massacres in our locality.
In this regard, it is with profound and deep sense of sorrow that we draw your attention and all paramount chiefs in our area to the on-going merciless ruin of Southern Kaduna peoples by enemies of peaceful co-existence since 2011.
Your Royal Highnesses, we were born to discover that we come from various pristine lands, rich in soil fertility, exquisite vegetation and a great climate wrapped around a very proud history some of which have been well documented. Meanwhile, it is apparent that our cultures, norms and traditions accommodate welcomes people which makes the area south of Kaduna one of the most hospitable areas in Nigeria. This, to our understanding, has been our wayof life back in time, further re-enforced by globalisation which encourages freedom of movement of persons irrespective of where they come from.
Your Highnesses, having overcome the Dan Fodio led Jihad of the 1800s and later slave raids in the 19th century before the introduction of colonial rule in the 20th century in northern Nigeria and later the independence of our nation, we are once again faced with a brutal and unbelievable callous murders in gory manner unimaginable in the hands of Fulani Herders for reasons they alone know. The people have suffered killings in cold blood in the peace and quiet of their homes and the end to this gruesome experience is nowhere near probable as it is spreading from one ethnic group to the other with disrespectful impunity.
Your Royal Highnesses, it is because of this development that we write to you, as the head of all our traditional leaders in Southern Kaduna to bring to your attention our position.
Recent killings:
On 14th march, 2014 Fulani militia invaded Tekum, Sankwai and Anguwan Gata villages, all in Bodon District, Moroa Chiefdom, Kaura LGA of Kaduna state. The casualties which have been well documented and shows that 147 persons, mostly women and children, were killed. Three Churches were burnt alongside 285 homes. The injured were put at 120 with about 67 having sustained permanent disabilities. The net worth of damages is put at N800 million. The evidence that the suspected perpetrators are Fulani is among the attackers killed in self-defence two were identified to be those who have livedand well known around Manchok area.
The latest is the invasion of Numana Chiefdom by Fulani militias in which, mainly Ninzo, Nandu, Gwantu and Gwandara natives in Sanga LGA were massacred in indescribable manners from the 25th June, to the time of writing this letter.
• In Fadan Karshi, 37 persons were killed, 55 injured two homes were burnt.
• The casualty in Ambe records 40 killed, 102 injured, and the whole town of about 400 homes, and 50 shops with three churches all burnt.
• Kobin, which was attacked in broad daylight was left to mourn 31 deaths, 92 injured.
• Sabon Gida recorded 11 deaths, 21 injured but no home was burnt.
• In Dogon Daji, the Fulani gunmen also left in the wake of their killings, 24 persons, mostly women and Children, and 51 injured while the entire village of about 300 house and shops razed to the grown.
• In Ningon, 1 sick girl of 14 was killed, and the village of 94 homes, and two churches burnt.
Displaced status
Admittedly, it is difficult to estimate the actual number of displaced persons as record keeping is a challenge, we are able to estimate after visits and information received from the villagers the following figures:
Gwantu, the Headquarters of Sanga LGA, estimated to have 30,000 residents, is deserted out of fear of the unknown, even though the town was not attacked.
The refugees from Ambe, Ningon, Kobin, Anguwan Par, Gwantu Kurmi, Fadan Karshi, Dogon Daji and smaller villages and homesteads may as well swell over 150,000. Most have left to stay with relatives in Akwanga, Wamba and Kuchikau, all in Nassarawa State. More have fled to nearby towns in Plateau State and Gidan Waya, Kagoro, Kafanchan, Godogodo, Kachia, Kwoi in Kaduna state are now home to thousands of fleeing Sanga natives.
A handful of the most helpless, many bereaved too, at the Divisional Police headquarters of Gwantu; Gwantu A and B primary schools and in “protected” facilities in Nunku, Wamba, Gidan Waya and Andaha (in Nassarawa state) all estimated to be about 23, 000.
Your Royal Highnesses, these mentioned villages are emptyand now deserted communities with the spirits of those killed perhaps haunting over them, wondering what they must have done wrong.
Our Position.
We do not see any difference between the mass killings in our area and those carried out in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states where a state emergency were declared. Your Royal Highnesses, we implore you to pass on this plea on to President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr Ebele Jonathan Goodluck, to immediately declare a state of emergency in Southern Kaduna area of Kaduna state until normalcy is restored, considering that our people at this point in time, have lost confidence in the government in the state which is seemingly unperturbed by the continued decimation of our people and the destruction of their means of livelihood.
Though we are open to attacks in spite of the lean efforts of soldiers and combined security operatives in securing our communities, we nonetheless appreciate the challenging situation under which they operate.
In the light of the foregoing, we recommend the formation of Southern Kaduna Vigilante Service (SKAVIS) to boost the lean effort of the military. If Borno state has a Civilian JTF, and South Western States have the OPC, to enforce security and provide useful intelligence to rightful authorities, it would be very unfair for government to deny, or frustrate southern Kaduna peoples from forming such a body.We the natives of Southern Kaduna shall bear the brunt of its training and upkeep when instituted.
In the face of the inexcusable silence and inaction of most of our political leaders, both elected and appointed, with the exception of Hon. Simon Yakubu Arabo and recently Hon. Shehu Sarkin Noma, who bluntly and openly presented the security situation of our area on the floor of the Federal House of Representatives in Abuja on 1st July, 2014, we hereby cast a vote of no confidence on all the those who have chosen to sit on the fence and not identifying with us in the National Assembly and Kaduna State House of Assembly.
We are worried that the future and preservation of our land have been left completely in the hands of politicians, who trades our land, culture and God’s given right to live for slavery and servitude. It is high time we stand up and free our land from calamity.
We also call on you, as a matter of urgency, to convene a Southern Kaduna Security Summit exclusive for Southern Kaduna natives. After our Summit, we would pick our stand and organise an open one for all stakeholders.
Your Royal Highness, we like to bring to your attention, in case you are yet to observe, that the Governor of our state, Alh. Mukhtar RamalanYero, has not in any way whatsoever shown modest regard for our people neither has his government demonstrated empathy for our suffering masses. Thus we have no choice than to call him to take responsibility for his government’s failure to curb the ongoing pogrom in Southern Kaduna being the Chief Security Officer of the state. For his snub to visit and have first-hand evidences of the violence against our people or show concern to our people, we feel late down and disenchanted.
On the latest massacre in Southern Kaduna, we call on all well-meaning people of Kaduna state, Nigeria and the world over who may have useful information to help us with all the necessary substantiation needed to enable it complete its findings to file genocide charges in respect of our situation in The Hague.
How can 147 sons and daughters of a state be killed in one fell swoop in Kaura villages, and a sitting governor would not go to see and speak to the aggrieved since February, and again about 200 have killed in mass invasions of Sanga villages, and the Governor does not have the moral courage to visit any of the affected places or persons?
Our Royal father, to ameliorate the situation of the affected people, we appeal to you to set up a Southern Kaduna Relief Fund for Displaced Persons. This will go a long way to reduce the level of starvation, disease and mental trauma from the surviving victims. More so that this is happening during the farming season it signifies the untold hard ship that is eminent in these affected villagesthe following year.
Grazing Reserves
His Royal Highness, we are watching with consternation the spirited, if not desperate attempt by poorly informed government officials to create new exclusive grazing vast lands for Fulani nomads and to resuscitate dormant ones in our area. The excuse is that they would provide graze reserves for the nomadic Fulani to appease their inclination to violence but we strongly kick against this and warn that it portends a very precarious future for this country for the following reasons:
• Nigeria should not reward mindless murder of innocent people and plunderers of our hard earned resources with the lands of the victims.
• Evidences of attacks of farmers all over the country suggests the Fulani nomad has not shown regard for the law and hardly interested in understanding and respecting them. He will therefore not be bound by the conditions and terms of his resettlement if promulgated.
It is thus laughable to think that the Fulani can be domesticated, at least in Nigeria where they kill people in communities they settle with impunity. Placing them under such conditions, would in fact interfere with their culture and tradition of moving from one point to the other. An apt example is the existing Laduga Cattle Reserve in Kachia LGA. The Fulani of Laduga have become disorganised allowing sedentary Hausa people and urbanized Fulani to take over the place, turning it into farmlands. The intended target for a grazing reserve for those who still have cattle has failed as many continue with their seasonal migrations, thus leaving the 70,000 hectares of land free for the general use of those it was not meant for.
Let it be on record that this vast land was taken mainly from the Akulu(Ikulu) people with no penny paid as compensation and given free to the Fulani. Further, citing Laduga as an example, this exclusive and artificial homeland of the Fulani has become a terror den. Intelligence tells it serves as training camp and spring board for many if not all Fulani gunmen in our area. The recent recovery of large cache of arms after a cordon and search by soldiers of the 1st Army Division, Kaduna is a testimony to this assertion.
Also, the present push for Laduga to attain an Emirate status, in a land which they have not lived for long to forget when they were first settled there, almost all the immediate people of the locality are Christians, reveals the level of agitation for Emirates in future Grazing Reserves and the attendant problems that will ensue whether granted the status or not.
The implication of having Grazing Reserves would include mass influx of Foreign Fulani herdsmen to ‘free lands’ and will serve as safe haven for all kinds of nefarious activities.In the next 50 years, Grazing Reserves that would have become towns of only Fulani in the middle of non-Muslims people would be like bringing wool and fire together. For the sake of our future, we must vehemently counter this move.
The social and political implication of having grazing reserves in Southern Kaduna is therefore with grave consequence.For these and many more, we therefore reject the proposal for more grazing reserves, and would resist it with every legal means available.Cattle rearing is private business. All those engaged in it should be encouraged to learn to live with other people and seek for ways to integrate with other cultures; farmers, fishermen, hunters, and the rest must co-exist and must not be given exclusive rights to lands, the ancestral heritage of others.
Conclusion
We the peoples south of Kaduna hereby wish to advise our persecutors that it may not always be this easy. One day, they shall fail.We will continue to strive and remain resilient even in the face of all the tyranny, execution and oppression that we go through today.
For the records, please find attached a list of the attacks on our people from 2011, and we thank you for your attention and subsequent action.
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