THE SYSTMATIC GENOCIDAL MASSACRE OF SOUTHERN KADUNA PEOPLE FOR RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC REASONS The Southern Kaduna Christian Leaders Council cannot longer be silent over the systematic and well-coordinated massacre of our people. Since the 2011 post-election violence, Southern Kaduna has been under a systematic and coordinated attack. This genocide has reached an alarming scale with the recent massacre of one hundred and forty eight (148) innocent lives in the single attack of Friday 14th that ran through the early hours of Saturday 15th March 2014. With heavy hearts and great displeasure we condemn these murderous acts in the strongest possible term and wish to let the whole world know the truth of the predicament that has caught up with us. 1. Unprovoked Massacre Unrelated with Crises Elsewhere. The genocidal massacre in Southern Kaduna is unprovoked and not related in any way with the crisis in neighbouring Plateau state because the aggressors in Plateau say they are fighting for land. No one has come out to say why Southern Kaduna peoples have become targets for these planned, well-coordinated and executed attacks. The attacks are also not reprisals because some of the communities attacked, for example, The Moro’a communities have never witnessed any ethnic or religious crisis, and had canvassed and promoted peaceful coexistence among different people groups and religions. Yet recently they woke up to find three of their communities namely, Ungwar Sankwai, Ungwar Gata and Ungwar Kura in which one hundred and forty eight people were killed and over two hundred houses destroyed by Fulani herdsmen. In an earlier attack a family of seven was wiped out in a heartless and gruesome murder! So we can safely surmise that we have been programmed to be annihilated because we don’t share the same cultural, religious and political convictions as obtainable in the entire North West Geo-political zone of the country. These systematic attacks appear to also have political and economic undertones namely: to intimidate the populace and weaken their interest in political activities come 2015, and reduce them to that state of poverty where they lack food and shelter, thereby setting the stage for internal feuds leading to self-destruction. This is shown by targeting and burning down of all food barns by the rampaging arsonists. 2. The Response of Government Leaves Much to be Desired. The response of government at the Federal and State levels have been lackadaisical in terms of putting down measures to stem the recurrence of these attacks and provide relief materials to succour those traumatized by the attacks. Whereas we appreciate the enormity of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North Eastern part of Nigeria and that this has engaged the full attention of the President and the Federal Government to find a lasting solution there, we plead that the lives and properties of our people in Southern Kaduna should not be made scape-goats to appease desperate politicians who want to use the violence against our people to wrest power by all means! Those who claim they are born to rule have never forgiven our people for massively voting for President Jonathan in the 2011 elections! We are particularly appalled by the attitude and actions of Kaduna state government to the crises. The government either denies that our people are attacked and killed or that the attacks are unintended and incidental. It then either refuses to provide relief measures or bowing to public outcry it insults the dignity and the intelligence of the people by what they do give vis-a-vis the gravity of the carnage. Why is the state government behaving as if they are working in concert with our killers to silence and wipe us out of existence? The federal government should also give considerable attention to the un-broken cycle of atrocities carried out by the Fulani herdsmen and their mercenaries which is executed with equal sophistication as perpetrated by the Boko Haram sect. The federal government should therefore resolve to see that the battle against terrorist forces is won not only in the North east axis of the nation but in Southern Kaduna as well. Retrospectively, concerted effort must be made therefore to ensure that entire communities in the Takad Chiefdom that were displaced from their natural habitat over four months ago and the recently displaced Ungwar Sankwai, Ungwar Gata, Ungwar Kura and Akuku in Moro’a Chiefdom are assisted to return to their homes and sufficient funds made available for their rehabilitation. 3. The Nonchalance of Security Agents While we appreciate the sacrifices the security agents are making to safe guard the lives and properties of Nigerians especially with the Boko Haram insurgency and Fulani herdsmen guerrilla warfare in several parts of the nation, yet we don’t understand how these killers can cross several check points mounted by security agents, enter a community and kill, maim, loot and burn houses all night long and escape often without been confronted by the security operatives stationed to protect them! It would seem the government and security forces come alive only after the havoc has been done, not to stage a chase after the perpetrators of the dastardly act but to stop any possible reprisal attacks thereby working to the advantage of the terrorists. If the reports of complicity from security agents in other places are true, then it may not be different from what our people are experiencing in the hands of people paid to protect them. It is worthy of mention that when the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was decorating the Service Chiefs which coincided with a mass burial of over thirty people gruesomely murdered by Fulani herdsmen in Southern Kaduna; while he charged the Service Chiefs to stem the insurgency in the North East, no mention was made of Southern Kaduna. In another development, during the inauguration of the National Conference on Monday 17th March 2014, at the instance of the President, a minute silence was observed to mourn the youths who lost their lives at the embarrassing immigration recruitment exercise; this again coincided with the massacre of one hundred and forty eight mostly youths, children and women of Moro’a in Southern Kaduna but sadly, nothing was said of this genocide of Moro’a. If the Federal and state governments lack the wherewithal to protect the lives and properties of our people they should say so, and let our people know they have to carry the responsibility of defending themselves by themselves with God helping them. We are tired of trusting our lives to government and security agents who look the other way or perhaps join hands with our enemies to annihilate us. Even at this time of preparing this report in mid-March there was a reported case of the military shooting at, and maiming people indiscriminately at Manchok in Moroa Chiefdom of Kaura Local Government Area, instead of protecting them. Ours is a double tragedy; we are victims both to the security agents and the Fulani terrorists. It is worthy of note, shocking and sad to stress the fact that despite the recent despicable massacre, mass destruction of property and means of livelihood, no effort at all is been made at tracking down these murderers and arsonists who are still threatening the communities using the phones they took as loot during their raids. 4. Grim picture of the carnage so far Despite the denials by the state government about the massacre going on in Southern Kaduna, the truth of the matter is that apart from the thousands of people killed as a result of the 2011 post-election violence, there have been as many as fifty one (51) separate targeted attacks in many communities in Southern Kaduna, including the recent attacks on Takad and Moro’a communities. As a result of these attacks, not less than six hundred (600) persons, including old men, old women, young children and babies are confirmed to have been murdered. Also, not less than one thousand and sixty (1060) houses have been burnt. Of necessity tens of thousands of people are now refugees in their own father’s land. Our investigations also reveal that 136 persons were arrested following all these attacks. But as of today not one of them has been prosecuted not to talk of conviction or sentence! We are not even sure they are been detained somewhere. The culture of impunity reigns high in our land, especially if our people are the victims. This only emboldens the perpetrators of evil to perpetuate their mayhem knowing that even if caught nothing will come out of it. 5. Conclusion In the light of the foregoing: a. We call upon the international community to beware of the plight of the Southern Kaduna people and put pressure on Federal and Kaduna state governments to halt the systematic massacre of our people. b. We call on the Federal and State government to re-enforce security in the displaced communities of Moro’a and Takad so that they can go back to their natural habitat and continue with their agricultural activities which is the only source of their livelihood. c. We call on the National Assembly and State Assembly to view this carnage as a matter of National Importance and not allow it to degenerate to a chaos that will threaten the security of the nation since there is a limit to what any man can bear. d. We also call on the Kaduna state government to stop playing politics with the lives of our people and take responsibility not only to protect them but stop its preferential treatment in which it marginalizes our people in citing development projects to make them feel part of the state. e. We also wish to call on all Non – Governmental organizations both at home and abroad to please assist in the rehabilitation of these traumatized refugees in their home land. f. We call upon all the members of the National Conference and the National Assembly to vote overwhelmingly for the creation of Gurara State out of the present Kaduna State, to enable our people in Southern Kaduna carry their destiny in their hands under God. Long live Southern Kaduna. Long Live Kaduna State. Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria Respectfully Yours Most. Rev Joseph Bagobiri Bishop[Prof] ZakkaBonet Chairman Secretary
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:43:16 +0000
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