For three days, a team of lawyers comprising leaders of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) was in Kaduna on a fact-finding mission to identify the causes of the crisis in Southern Kaduna and suggest ways to ensure lasting peace.
The team, led by NBA President, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), had its first stop at the office of Governor Nasir el-Rufai on January 16, during which Mahmoud suggested ways of addressing the crisis in Southern Kaduna.
Mahmoud said: “Since I became the president, we have scaled up programmes in the public interest areas. We recently constituted a multitask force which we charged with the responsibility of working on ways through which we can support citizens affected by crises. A similar task force is currently working in the Niger-Delta region.”
He explained that from initial briefings the team had from experts who were familiar with the situation, his team learnt that the escalation in the crisis in recent years had bred public mistrust, widespread anger and frustration in some of the communities.
Mahmoud identified the negative role of political leaders in the area, who, he said, had taken sides and contributed to the atmosphere of mistrust and escalating violence. These leaders, he added, spread the misinformation, which fuelled the crisis.
He noted that the non-implementation of past recommendations on how to deter recurrence of violence, created a culture of impunity over the years, which needed to be fully addressed.
Mahmoud added that the recurrent violence in Southern Kaduna could not be addressed by treating it strictly as a legal issue or adopting strict military approach, but required the corporation of all.
There was a need, he added, for stakeholders to tone down their rhetorics.
For the political leaders, particularly the governor, Mahmoud suggested the need for more tact and statesmanship in the handling of the situation, While for the religious leaders, he urged them to demonstrate more caution in what they say and do.
To achieve a long term solution, Mahmoud suggested the need for the state government to seek ways of engaging with all the affected communities and earn their trust. Emphasis, he added, should also be on non-military strategies.
As a medium term measure, he suggested the need for neutral intermediaries to support the government’s measures in the areas of engaging with stakeholders and improving communication.
El-Rufai, who praised the NBA team for its initiative, said the cause of incessant killings in Southern Kaduna was difficult to understand.
He added that the spate of recent killings was a spillover of the April 2011 post-election violence. He said the Southern Kaduna crisis was inherited by his government.
El-Rufai said: “The southern Kaduna is a 36-year-old crisis. I have decided to face it and I am going to end it. What we are dealing with now is 35 years of impunity. It is our intention to prosecute those instigating hate speech and bring them to book.
“There is nothing that can be done to Southern Kaduna unless the application of law and order. The security agents have arrested some of the perpetrators. The masterminds will be brought to justice. We are ready to partner with NBA and enforce the law.
After its interaction with the governor, the team headed for Kafachan, about three hours’ drive from Kaduna (the state capital), where it received a briefing on the state things from a group of security personnel on ground, before proceeding to some communities affected by the crisis. The communities visited were Goska, Dangoma and Bakin-Kogi (all in Jema’a Local Government), where members of the team expressed dismay over the level of destruction.
At the Area Command Office, Divisional Police Headquarters, Kafachan, Commissioner of Police, Mobile Police Force, Bello Ahmed gave a picture of efforts being made by security agencies to ensure peace.
Ahmed, who was deployed to Kafachan on December 24, 2016, admitted that there were violent clashes in the affected communities, but said the situation was amplified by reports of the incidents.
“The scale of the crisis is being amplified. We are not saying there was no crisis, but was not as much as it is being portrayed,” Ahmed said, and urged the team to feel free to visit the communities and interact with residents.
The scale of destruction was high in Goska. What used to be beautiful houses, but now burnt structures doted the agrarian community, inhabited by mostly Christians.
The owner of one of the affected houses, Gideon Morik, said two of his vehicles were burnt with the house, while his 14-year old daughter,
Anna was among those killed on December 24, 2016 when armed men, believed to be Fulani herdsmen invaded the community.
He pointed to a fresh grave in a corner of his premises, where he said Anna was buried. Impacts of bullets were visible in the steel gate at the main entrance to the house.
Morik, who said he was a Chairman of Jema’a Local Government, and two-time member of the state House of Assembly, pointed accusing finger at members of the next community- Dangoma, who he said instigated the attack.
To Morik, there were two motives for the attack – economic and political. “Our land is fertile. We do not use fertilizser. That is why the Fulani people want to take our land by force. We did not vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the last general election.
That is why the state government has refused to protect us and has chosen to leave us to our fate.”
The leader of the community, Malam Ayuba said 33 houses were burnt while four people are still yet to be accounted for in addition to those, who were shot dead. He said the major problem now was that of insecurity, which has made it impossible for his people to go to their farms.
“If you move two kilometres away from this village, you will be attacked. The attackers are hiding in our farms, waiting to kill more people,” Ayuba said.
At Dangoma, a community inhabited mostly by Fulani Muslims, the community head, Alhassan Seidu, denied that his people attacked Goska.
Although his community was not attacked, Seidu admitted that those who attacked Goska were Fulani herdsmen, but not from Dangoma. He accused members of Goska community of being hostile towards his people before the attack.
“Our people have lived in this place for over 500 years. We have lived peacefully with our neighbours. We learnt of the attack on Goska by some Fulani herdsmen, who are not from here. Although they (member of Goska community) have, on some occasions, acted hostile to some of our people, we were not part of the attack,” Seidu told the visiting NBA team.
At Bakin-Kogi, a predominantly Christian community, the district head, Danjuma Gado blamed Fulani herdsmen for the incessant violent attacks in the area. He also blamed idle youths in the area for fuelling crisis.
He urged the government not to abandon the people to their fate, but to come to their aid. he praised the NBA for its initiative and assured of his commitment to ensuring the return of peace to the various communities.
The visit by the NBA team to Kafachan was rounded off with a meeting with some selected stakeholders drawn from the affected communities, who gave first-hand accounts of what occurred and how best to achieve peace.
