SOKAPU raises alarm over fresh attacks, killings in Southern Kaduna by herdsmen
For the umpteenth time, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has raised the alarm over rising attacks and killings in their communities by armed Fulani Herdsmen.
According to SOKAPU, no fewer than 10 persons were killed while several others were injured when gunmen invaded communities in Kauru, Chikun, and Zangon Kataf Local Council, on Wednesday.
SOKAPU’s spokesman, Luka Biniyyat, in a statement, yesterday, said that some communities in other council areas also suffered several casualties at the hands of the gunmen.
“In the evening of Wednesday, August 18, 2022, Achinge Luka, a widower, was riding on his motorbike at the beleaguered Unguwan Magaji Village, Kamaru ward, Kauru LGA in Southern Kaduna, when armed Fulani herdsmen men laid ambush and shot him dead. They went away with his bike,” the statement said.
It added: “Luka’s case is most pathetic because his wife and only child were killed last year in an August 2 attack on Unguwan Magaji, and environs in which SOKAPU reported the massacre of over 70 persons by armed Fulani Herdsmen.
“Unguwan Magaji has been attacked not less than five times in two years with scores killed, and property either looted or burnt. No culprit has been apprehended.”
The group continued: “Also, about 250 km west of the aforementioned murder, in the early morning hours of Wednesday, gunmen stormed Totace village, Kujama ward, Chikun Local Government Area (LGA) in Southern Kaduna, and killed three aged men namely Bulus Magaji, Yakubu Sukuru, and Amos Israela.
“The invaders who attacked the village around 2 am, also kidnapped nine persons and escaped into the bush. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
The unrelenting assault on Southern Kaduna communities also recorded more tragedies as armed herdsmen attacked Chen Shye, or Didiong community in Gorah ward, Zangon Kataf LGA.
“After the attack, six persons were left dead. They are Ishaya Shinkut, Hanatu Hosea, Tabitha Danladi, Celina Danladi, Felix Hosea, and Talatu Gabriel. In the same manner, on May 16, 2022, armed men invaded Pavilion Estate, Gidan Waya town, Jemaa LGA with the sole aim of kidnapping students of the Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya.”
After detailing a series of attacks that little or nothing has been done to give justice to the people, SOKAPU added: “As we approach the 2023 general elections, we already have over 200, 000 people who have been displaced by violence in over 145 communities, in five LGAs of Southern Kaduna…There is little hope that they will return to their voting points before the general elections.
“If their villages are not secured for their safe and peaceful return, SOKAPU would have no reason not to believe that the main aim of the attacks on their communities is to disenfranchise them, while the invaders are allowed to violently expropriate their lands to their use as the booty of their unchallenged crime.”
“We, therefore, call on the government to take urgent steps to fish out the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, and return all displaced persons to the communities very urgently.”
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