The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kaduna crisis

  • Kaduna crisis death toll rises to 12

    Kaduna crisis death toll rises to 12

    ... 18 suspects arrested

    The Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Austin Iwar, said on Tuesday 18 suspects have been arrested and 12 people confirmed dead in the three- hour crisis that engulfed Kasuwan Magani town, Kajuru local government area of the state on Monday.

    Addressing journalists after a fact- finding and assessment visit to the area, the police commissioner vowed that no stone would be left unturned in unraveling the immediate and remote causes of the crisis.

    Iwar, who was at the village alongside other top security chiefs including the General Officer Commanding, 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Major Gen. Mohammed Mohammed and the state Commandant of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Modu Goni, expressed shock at the scales of destruction.

    He said: “It is us fortunate. As we can see the level of destruction is very high. Some people were killed and properties destroyed. This is not what we wished for our state, Kaduna.

    “Let me say that we will not leave any stone unturned in investigating the remote and the immediate causes of this problem. We will talk to the stakeholders here and try to find out what is the problem and through civil problem solving approach and conflict resolution, we will deal with that. We will also look at the criminal aspect of it.

    “So far, we have arrested 18 people that we suspect were involved in the crisis. We are working round the clock to ensure that we get to the root of the matter. We have recovered a number of dangerous items, including petrol bombs. We believe this is a planned thing and we will get to the root of the matter. We will do a thorough investigation to ensure that it does not happen again.”

  • Kano CAN demands justice for Kaduna crisis

    The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kano State has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that perpetrators of the Southern Kaduna killings face the full wrath of the law.

    Addressing reporters in Kano, as part of events to mark the Kano CAN Annual Week of Prayer, Chairman Bishop Ransom Bello, urged the President to raise a Presidential Investigative Panel to ascertain the cause of the crisis.

    According to him, the war against corruption appeared lopsided, insisting there was a need to make it holistic.

    He added that President Buhari “has failed to develop the political willpower to address the Southern Kaduna crisis appropriately; and failure to act properly in surmounting the restiveness will taint the Federal Government’s image”.

    According to Bishop Bello, “the Southern Kaduna crisis is wrapped in religious and ethnic coloration, and I disagree with a Minister in President Buhari’s cabinet, who in his recent remarks, segregated the crisis from religious and ethnic incitements.

    “The killings in Kaduna are carried out by Fulani herdsmen, we all know it. If it is not religious or tribal, what is it then? We are not honest; no one has been prosecuted, and we demand that in this case, President Buhari should tell Nigerians who are behind this dastardly act”.

    He urged governments to adopt a detribalised approach in their bid to address issues bedeviling the country.

    Bishop Bello, who lamented that Nigerians are undergoing excruciating economic pains, said the 2017 Prayer Week would seek divine intervention for the economy. He added that the prayer sessions, among others, will solicit supernatural shift in the economy.

    The cleric noted that Christians resident in the state appreciate Governor Abdullahi Ganduje’s efforts at ensuring that peace continues in the state.

    “We need peace in Kano, we have succeeded in having peace, we pray for it to continue and extend to all parts of the country,” Bello said.

  • Kaduna crisis: Let’s learn from the past

    SIR: As a young adult, more than a decade ago in high school, full of dreams for the future – a very big dream of a big house with a big living room with high windows to let in sunlight and air every day. I wanted to have kids, watch them grow to responsible citizens.  A very big dream indeed.

    Then the bombshell:  A religious disturbance had erupted in Kaduna.  Houses that belonged to non-Muslims were either vandalized or razed to the ground and people that were not fast on their feet were either brutalized or burnt and their corpses left by the road side and houses in the wake of this wanton destruction.

    The peace and tranquillity of the lovely city where people of different tribes and religions worked and co-existed as one before was shattered and leveled to the ground all in the space of weeks.

    I was devastated! It was like my world had crumbled and I could not begin to imagine what had happened to make friends and neighbors suddenly become enemies. Non indigenes and visitors were being preyed on and killed and their houses and belongings destroyed in the wake. Children and women were killed in large droves and corpses littered the once clean and beautifully lit streets and I could just hear the “ghosts” of the dead crying for mercy and justice.

    I wondered in my little mind which couldn’t really comprehend this man’s inhumanity to man. Did people consider the consequences of the war before they embarked on it? Did they realize that destruction takes the fraction of a second but reconstruction can take a lifetime? Did they realize the legacy being left behind for the younger generation? Why is love which is preached by all religions hard to give? All religions are from God, then why the segregation?

    All these questions burdened my poor fragile mind and brought buckets of tears to my face. I shed tears for my Kaduna of yesterday which is lost and gone forever. But my young mind refuses to give up because I know it is time for the people to live and co-exist in peace for the young ones to have a brighter future.

    However, in the last few days, hostility has gradually returned to threaten the fragile and relative peace of Southern Kaduna. The peace in Kachia, was disrupted on Sunday, as adherents of the two major religions were embroiled in crisis, following an alleged demolition of places of worship by Christians and Muslims from different communities in the Kachia locality. The crisis had led to a forceful demolition and burning of mosques and churches in the area, causing tension and panic across the state. On Saturday when the youths saw damage in the prayer ground, hell was let loose; the youths suspected members of a nearby church to be responsible for the continuous damaging of the prayer ground and descended on the church, causing it to be demolished. The alleged suspects did not take the demolition of the church lightly as they went burning and demolishing mosques in the area.

    Security agencies, religious leaders and indeed elders should all be on the watch in order to prevent a re-occurrence of the massacre and bloodshed that swept lives and properties more than a decade ago. Church and mosque leaders should preach and teach the adherence of their religion on the need to see their neighbors as an extension of themselves in order to uphold the sanctity for human lives and to ensure and atmosphere for peace and tranquillity without which development cannot be achieved. Forgiveness and tolerance is what we should all imbibe.

    Nelson Mandela has exemplified forgiveness and tolerance and for black people to live and co-exist together in mutual love and respect. We owe it to him to carry on his legacy as he had enjoined us to do and we don’t necessarily have to wait for our leaders. The onus is on us and we have the responsibility to create a future we want for ourselves and our children

     

    • Dr Hussain Obaro,

    Ilorin