Incessant Attacks: Southern Kaduna People Cry Out

A coalition of non governmental organizations based in Southern Kaduna on Tuesday converged in Abuja to draw attention of the public to what they termed " southern Kaduna genocide" where Fulani herdsmen and cattle rustlers routinely attack communities in the Christian populated area of Kaduna state, with reckless abandon and killing any living thing in sight with women and children suffering most from these incessant attacks.

The coalition, supported by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa; OSIWA, led by chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Chidi Odinkalu, narrated the ordeals which the southern Kasuna people have continued to suffer with little or no form of protection from the Kaduna state government or the federal government.

They noted that since the early 1980s, that there had been consistent attacks on the people of southern Kaduna but that the incidence of such attacks increased to a generalized warfare and genocidal scale from 2011 following the last presidential election when violence engulfed about 10 northern states.They claimed that these attacks on the southern Kaduna people are carefully organized and executed with heartless viciousness and on an incremental basis.

Leader of the coalition, Mr. Zwahu Bonnat, pointed out that the main characteristic of the ongoing attacks on his people and communities, is that they are carefully planned and executed, especially between 2011 and 2014. "Over a period of 4 years, 39 of such vicious attacks have been launched against our hospitable, accommodating, peaceful and law abiding communities. These planned systemic and coordinated attacks have claimed the lives of over 4000 innocent southern Kaduna people who bona ride citizens of Nigeria. In most of the communities, women and children have been killed and brutally murdered in most barbaric manner. While in some cases they were hacked to death, in other cases they were burnt alive and or blown up with explosives. These attacks have rendered thousands of our people homeless, as their homes have been burnt. More worrisome also, is the issue of our water sources which have been polluted".

The group claim that in the last 53 attacks on the area, that the most prominent attacks were carried out in Attakar Chiefdom of Kaura local government area where over 200 people were butchered with countless others displaced, while school buildings and churches were razed to rubles. "The attacks were in the five villages of Me Gatah, Me Sankawai, Tekum, Me Kakpang and Me Kurah in Moro'a Chiefdom, Kaura local government area of Kaduna state. Here, whole families were wiped out with 148 persons massacred in their sleep with 240 house destroyed" said Ms. Gloria Mabiem Ballason of Southern Kaduna Women Lawyers Forum, who were also part of the coalition.

While speaking on the atrocities going on in southern Kaduna, the National Human Rights Commission chairman, Dr. Odinkalu, noted that these attacks can be summarized as "Southern Kaduna Genocide" and averred that there is more than meets the eyes in the massacres going on in southern Kaduna. "Southern Kaduna is a mass atrocity site. These attacks are well coordinated and systemic and are tailored towards women and children who are vulnerable and should be protected. It is instructive to note also that the representative of the southern Kaduna people in the senate, Senator Nenadi Usman, has never visited any of these communities to see first hand what the people in her senatorial zone are going through"

He berated the Nigerian politicians for not showing any sympathy for the people who elected them to represent the and pointed out that, unlike the case in the north eastern part of the nation where the challenge of insurgency had led to loss of lives and properties, that the case in southern Kaduna is a deliberate acts of genocide. "Our democracy should be about the worth of the lives of Nigerians irrespective of where they come from, whether from Aba or Zungeru, any where any Nigerian's life is threatened should be a priority to our government.

He lamented that in spite of these wanton killings and destruction of properties, that these same uncaring politicians would soon be returning to these ravaged communities to ask for their votes and likened any request for votes in southern Kaduna to canvassing for votes in a cemetery and pointed out that ghosts don't vote in an election.

The coalition also berated the Kaduna state Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero for issuing a query to the southern Kaduna woman who led the protest that greeted the governor during a recent visit to southern Kaduna after recent attacks carried out in the area by suspected Fulani herdsmen. The woman whose names were not disclosed is said to be the head of the health department at Jama'a local government area of the state and that following that embarrassing protest against the Governor's entourage, that the woman had been transferred to Birnin Gwari, which is not safe for her as the area too is a notorious killing field in the state.

They called on the federal and state government to take immediate and practical steps to ensure that the latest Sanga massacre would be the last act of genocide against the southern Kaduna people. " We are tired of protesting, petitioning, demonstrating and appealing to federal and state governments and security agencies, take immediate and practical steps to ensure that the latest Sanga massacre would be the last act of genocide against the southern Kaduna people or else the people will be left with no option but to conclude that the government has abandoned the southern Kaduna people to their own devices for their security.