Kaduna Govt Imposes 24-hour Curfew over Bloody Violence

John Shiklam in Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government has imposed a 24-hour curfew in Kasuwan Magani community in Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA) of the state following a bloody clash between Muslims and Christians in the community.

The incident was said to have occurred thursday evening.

A resident of the area told THISDAY in a telephone interview that many people were killed while houses were set ablaze.

According to him, a young man was caught stealing in the market and was being beaten when some youths belonging to the same religious group with the suspected thief, rose in his defence and started attacking those who were beating him for stealing.

He said “What happened was that somebody was caught stealing in the market and he was being beaten, then suddenly some youths (belonging to his faith) started attacking those who were beating the thief”.

“The whole thing turned to a religious fight between Muslims and Christians. They started using dangerous weapons to attack each other and setting houses ablaze.

“A number of people were also killed. Security personnel have been deployed and the situation is under control” he said.

The Kaduna State Government in a statement by Samuel Aruwan, spokesman to Governor Nasir el-Rufai, said the 24-hour curfew “is to curtail break down of law and order and it is with immediate effect”.

A similar incident had occurred in February 2018, when Christian and Muslim youths in the community engaged each other in a bloody fight following the alleged abduction and conversion of some christian girls by Muslim boys.

About 15 people were killed during that incident while property worth millions of naira was destroyed.