Despite Curfew, Gunmen Kill 3 in Kaduna

By John Shiklam in Kaduna

Three people were killed on Monday in Kaduna despite the 24-hour curfew imposed on the metropolis by the state government.

Violence broke out in some parts of the metropolis at about 4:00pm on Sunday resulting in the burning of several houses and vehicles.

The state government consequently imposed curfew to stop the violence from spreading to other parts of the city.

However, in the early hours of Monday, gunmen said to have posed as members of a vigilante group killed three young men in Narayi area of the city.

The gunmen, said to have driven a Hilux vehicle marked “JTF”, were said to have arrived the community at about 2:00pm and abducted the young men who were letter killed.

The burial of the victims took place on Monday, amidst mass protest by the youths who blocked the major road leading to the community.

It took the efforts of religious and community leaders to pacify the angry youths who blamed security personnel “for not doing enough to protect” them despite the curfew.

Speaking in an interview with journalists when the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen Muhammad Mohammed, visited the area as part of his assessment tour of security situation within the metropolis, a youth leader in the area, Emmanuel Godwin, said the gunmen came when people were sleeping.

“They came at about 2:00am in a Hilux Van and they claimed they were vigilante members from Barnawa. We told them that Narayi is not their jurisdiction and they had no business coming to our community since we have our own vigilante group. As they were driving away, they picked three boys as if they were arresting them.

“Shortly after they left with the boys they shot and killed them and dumped the corpses by the roadside,” the youth leader said.

Meanwhile residents in the metropolis have mobilised vigilante groups to beef up security around their communities from “enemies and invaders” as well as miscreants who may one to exploit the situation.

In Kawo New Extension, Anguwan Dosa, Badarawa, Malali, Anguwan Rimi, Narayi and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway, among other places visited by the GOC, youths, armed with knives, machetes, swords and sticks, mounted roadblocks on major roads to their communities.

Some of the youths who spoke in an interview said they cannot surrender the security of their communities to security agencies as there were likely to be fake security personnel who may infiltrate and cause harm to them.

“We cannot surrender the security of our area to security agents because of our experience where fake security personnel go about killing people or some of the security personnel become partisan. We are only complimenting the security agencies” one of the youths in Narayi said.

Meanwhile the Kaduna State Security Council met Monday to assess the security situation in the state.

A statement on the outcome of the meeting was yet to be issued at the time of this report.