Again, SOKAPU Raises Concern Over Deteriorating Security Situation

John Shiklam

The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has expressed concern over the deteriorating security situation in Kaduna state, warning that if government continues to show lack of capacity, criminals may invade Kaduna metropolis.

Addressing a press conference yesterday  in Kaduna, President of SOKAPU, Hon. Jonathan Asake, said Kaduna state is under siege by a combination of killer Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers, bandits and other criminal groups who have continued to terrorise residents.

SOKAPU spoke, just as, the Village Head of Rijana, Kachia Local Government Area of the state, Ayuba Dakolo was reportedly abducted alongside unspecified number of people in their farms.

Rijana, a community located along the dreaded Kaduna- Abuja highway is noted for its notoriety for attacks and kidnappings.

Asake said SOKAPU worried about the continuous deteriorating security situation in the state, especially in the southern part.

He said: “It is very clear that Kaduna State is under siege by a combination of killer Fulani herdsmen, kidnappers, bandits and other criminal groups who have continued to terrorise peaceful, vulnerable and defenceless Nigerians resident in the state.”

He lamented that, “There is no single day that passes without an ugly incident of attack and massacre in rural communities or mass abductions of people in both rural communities and suburbs of urban areas.”

The SOKAPU president said the persistent attacks have continued to leave in their trail tales of massacre, maiming, destruction of property and crops, raping of women and mass displacement of persons from their homelands.

He said: “on April 25, 2022, heavily armed killer Fulani herdsmen in their large numbers riding on motorbikes invaded some communities in Kamaru ward, Chawai Chiefdom of Kauru Local Government Area where no fewer than 25 persons were murdered in cold
blood.

“By 4:30pm of that fateful Monday, the attackers commenced their assault on Ungwar Rimi community, and continued to kill, maim and destroy property of the community without help from the security forces.

“No fewer than 52 houses were burnt after the village was looted of foodstuffs and animals, among others.“After three hours of attack on Ungwar Rimi, the invaders proceeded to Ungwar Magaji; a community that has been attacked at least four times since 2014, where the rampaging herdsmen commenced yet another round of violence and killed six persons while others were injured.

“No fewer than 42 houses were burnt down. When the killer herdsmen attacked Ungwan Makera, one Audu Tulu, a resident of the village was severely injured, while no fewer than eight houses were burnt, foodstuffs and valuables were looted by the attackers.

Most pathetic is the killing of a 102-year old man, Pa Garba Akur, in Kitakum.

“He was shot as he tried to run, the heartless herdsmen hacked him down with their machetes and left his mutilated body in the pool of his blood. Also, 32 houses were reduced to rubbles and many displaced.”

According to him, the recent attacks in Kauru LGA are among the series of attacks that have been waged against Southern Kaduna communities since January 2022.

Asake said, most of the villages in Chikun LGA have been sacked, with scores killed and hundreds kidnapped, while the villages were destroyed.

He said thousands of the displaced people are living under dehumanising conditions in various IDP camps.

Asake noted that the terrorists have become so daring that they now invade Kaduna suburbs, few kilometres to the Kaduna Government House.

He said in Mararaban Rido, a suburb of Kaduna city, no less than 12 kidnapping incidences have been reported between January and April 2022, with scores abducted whose whereabouts are still unknown.

Asake said further that in Ungwan Bulus and Ungwan Gimbiya also suburbs of the metropolis, no fewer than 50 people were kidnapped and eight killed.

“More troubling than ever, the Kaduna- Kachia route has become dangerous for motorists and travellers who are constantly being kidnapped for ransom.

“These horrendous attacks on Kaduna State, especially the southern flank, has become glaring, with both government and security agencies seemed incapable of reining in the activities of these vicious bandits.

“SOKAPU believes that these bandits may soon take over the Kaduna metropolis, including the Kaduna State Government House, if the government continues to show lack of capacity or willingness to stop them”, Asake said.

He called on Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and foreign missions, among others, “to beam their searchlight on the atrocities being perpetrated against the people of Southern Kaduna.”