Normalcy has virtually returned to troubled Southern Kaduna region as military action and peace efforts continue. But the scars of the chronic crises remain indelible in the minds and sights of victims, ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE reports.
Although tribal and sectarian killings in the southern part of Kaduna State date back to the Kafanchan crisis in 1983, the number of deaths recorded in the area since the 2011 post-election violence has been alarming, leaving scars of destructions and causing deep division among a people that had lived together for centuries.
Since the end of the post-presidential election violence, several villages in Jema’a, Kaura and Zangon Kataf local government areas have been attacked by gunmen. Scores of people have been killed as villages were razed and property worth millions of naira destroyed. In all this, a lot of accusing fingers are pointing to herdsmen.
Prominent among the villages attacked is Goska, a settlement in Kaninkon Chiefdom, Jema’a Local Government Area. Gunmen stormed the village on Christmas eve, leaving no fewer than 10 people dead, including the 22-year-old daughter of the former local government council chairman, Hon. Gideon Morik.
While the various measures put in place by government and other stakeholders to curtail the crises are yielding positive results, memory of previous attacks remains fresh in the minds of survivors and others who lost loved ones.
Some of them who spoke with our correspondent recalled the ugly attacks, wishing that nothing of such would happen again in their lives.
Sixty-one-year-old Mrs. Murna Yakubu, a native of Ungwan Mississi in Jema’a Local Government Area, became a widow courtesy of the alleged attacks by killer herdsmen. She later lost her son to the bullets of the attackers in another evil invasion.
Recalling her ugly experience, she said: “In November 2016, we were at home with the children chatting when we started hearing gunshots. We thought the shooting was taking place in a neighbouring community. I was alone at home, but my husband was at the village square holding one of their ceaseless meetings with the village head.
“Two of my children were also with him at the village square. When they heard the gunshots, they ran for safety. But from their hiding place, they saw their father and the village head being shot. They rushed back home in tears to tell me that my husband and the village head had been shut dead.
“They said the assailants wore military uniforms. They told me that the people at the village square thought the gunmen were real soldiers who were assigned to the community to keep the peace.”
She added amid sobs: “My husband was a man of peace, so I never suspected that the sound of gunshots I heard was meant for him. He would not hurt a fly. And as I was being given the saddest news of my life, I couldn’t wait to mourn him. We ran to Goska, a nearby community, to take refuge.
“We went there to meet the district head, who is a younger brother to my husband. It was when the dust had settled that they went to our village with security people to bring the corpses. That was how I lost my dear husband. He was a gentleman and a responsible husband and father.”
Giving an account of how she lost her son, Mrs. Yakubu said: “On December 24, 2016, which was the eve of Christmas, herdsmen invaded Goska where we were taking refuge. Just like they did at Ungwan Mississi, they started shooting sporadically. Unfortunately, my son was gruesomely murdered in the process. His wife had just given birth to a new baby when the incident occurred.
“Since his father was killed, my son had been the breadwinner of the family. Even before the father died, he had been a successful farmer and had always supported us financially. My son harvested about 60 bags of beans and between 30 to 40 bags of maize.
“But as I am talking to you now, I don’t have even one bag of beans in the village. This is one of the effects of the crises. Life has been difficult for me. My surviving son brought me to the city from the village. We cannot go to the farm. We cannot feed the family again. The herdsmen are in the bush there, daring us to come closer. Our situation is pathetic.
“Look at the vibrant youths in the village who were feeding their families before but cannot do so now due to the heavy attacks the herdsmen carried out on us. Our houses were burnt. We want to go back to our ancestral home. The government should rebuild our houses. We want to go back to the farm. They should go into the bush and drive the arms-bearing herdsmen away.”
Bulus James, another native of Goska, told The Nation that “the herdsmen had earlier informed us that they would launch an attack on our community. We didn’t take the threat seriously until they came at about 5 pm one Saturday evening, which happened to be Christmas Eve. They encircled the village and started shooting anyone at sight.
“The shooting continued through the night. They killed one of the daughters of a two-term member of the Kaduna State House of Assembly and a former chairman of Jema’a Local Government, Gideon Yakubu Morik. They also burnt his house and several other houses.
“Only a few houses were spared. It was very pathetic. While that was going on, they released their cattle to feed on the beans that were yet to be harvested. We tried to call the security people who were stationed on the outskirts of the village but we discovered that they had no bullets. So, we were left in the hand of God.
“When we woke up on Christmas day, instead of going to church to celebrate, we were counting corpses. We counted 10 corpses from the attack. The attackers came in military camouflage.”
Mrs. Fidelia Paul, a native of Nissi village in Atakad Chiefdom, Kaura Local Government Area, recalled that her village suffered an attack similar to that of Goska in February this year. She said that many people were killed and houses were destroyed.
Recalling how she escaped the attackers’ bullets and hid inside a river for hours, she said: “On a fateful Monday morning, we were sitting down when some herdsmen attacked our village. They killed our children and our husbands.
“I actually thought I was going to die on that day because I had never seen that kind of thing except on the television. As I was running, I saw bullets hitting the walls beside me, so I thought I would not escape it. But God in His ultimate power and wisdom saved me.
“We ran and they ran after us. But because we knew our terrain more than they did, we were able to escape. In fact I never thought I could run until that day. We ran and hid ourselves inside a river near our village.
“Many of us, especially the women, spent the whole of that day inside the river, because the soldiers did not come throughout that day. So, because we did not know whether they had gone or not, we remained inside the river. Some of our men too went to hide inside the hill close to us.”
Mr. Denis Musa, another native of Nissi, said he had lost everything he had to the attack, with his documents as the most painful.
He said: “I lost everything to the attack. My house was burnt, my car, my documents, my children are displaced. They can’t even go to school now.
“The most disturbing thing to me is how to educate my children. I have two of my children in higher institutions, and my documents, including their own, have been burnt with the house.
“Now, our children are displaced and scattered. We need government to give us shelter so that we can settle down to educate our children.”
Mr. K.Y. Ezra, also from Nissi village, lost his elder brother in the attack, while another one remained in the hospital because of the injury he sustained from the February attack.
He said: “On the 20th of February, 2017, we were just waking up around 6 am when we started hearing gunshots. We thought it was a joke until we saw people coming with AK47 rifles and we started running for our lives.
“Some people were still sleeping when the attackers stormed our village. Those were the people that really suffered the attack. Five people were killed that morning, while many of us sustained various degrees of injury.
“Some of us were lucky that we didn’t get seriously injured, but others were not that lucky. In fact, some are still in the hospital, including my elder brother. Unfortunately, I lost another brother in the process. He was shot by the gunmen while he was trying to escape.
“As I speak with you, we cannot even go back to our village because there are no security personnel there. There are security personnel in some other places, but we don’t have them in our own village. They have burnt our house and we have no place to live, except relatives’ places.
“We want government to bring soldiers to our village too so that we can go back to farm this season. Because those people still patrol our farms and if one tries to go to the farm, they will kill the person. In fact, they move around our farms shooting every now and then.”
However, the umbrella association of Fulani herdsmen, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), said Nigeria must follow the Gambian example to address the persistent attacks in the southern part of Kaduna State.
The Assistant National Secretary of MACBAN, Dr. Ibrahim Abdullahi, who spoke with newsmen in Kaduna recently, said: The Gambia approach is a situation where the federal government will take stock of every nomad and their animals that are coming into the country as well as ensure adequate security of their lives and the animals in their custody.
According to him, “we have the ECOWAS protocol on trans-human movement. There is also the ECOWAS protocol on free movement of goods and people within the sub-region. These protocols allow you to take your cattle from Central African Republic coast, Republic of Cameroon, the coastal part of Chad through Nigeria to Benin Republic and back, and Nigeria is a signatory to these.
“That means that if a Cameroonian nomad comes into Kaduna State, maybe to Igabi for instance, it is the responsibility of the Kaduna State Government to ensure his safety, and I think that is where the issue of compensation comes in.
“I think the Federal Government should try to adopt the Gambian approach. The Gambian government is also a signatory to these two protocols.
“Any country within the West African sub-region who wants to send his nomads to Gambia should apply officially, stating the number of nomads and cows expected there, telling them the stalk routes they will ply to Gambia and the duration they will stay in that country.
”And, of course, they countersigned that you will not take arms to Gambia. Ensure that all animals are vaccinated against killer diseases as well as your people vaccinated against diseases. This is a government responsibility at a time as this.”
On the effort made by the state government to address incessant attacks by herdsmen on Southern Kaduna, which he said have foreign undertone, he said: “Through our last visit to Niger Republic, we sat down with the nomads there and said, please, let us sign an agreement that when you are coming to Nigeria (Kaduna State), don’t come with arms; our government will protect you.
”That is why this year, in all these northern local government areas, we have not had any incident of encroachment on farmlands. It is important to add that there are several people of Sanga, Jema’a, Kaura and Sango Kataf who killed several Fulani they came in contact with and even their cows. But they were not mostly reported in the media, so people don’t hear about that. But what is important to us now is peace across board”, he added.
Other stakeholders have equally joined in the peace building efforts. One of such is the recently floated Kafanchan Peace Forum led by Alhaji Samaila Barau Maigoro, a Kafanchan-born business.
Maigoro said the Kafanchan Peace Forum was formed to complement government’s efforts, especially in the area of reconciliation through reaching out to the youths.
He added: “We are fully aware that governments at all levels have taken appropriate steps towards securing the zone. We are out to complement government’s efforts by focusing on the youth. We will be engaging the youth by sensitising them on the need to promote peace.
“Members of this forum are drawn from Kafanchan, Goska, Dangoma, Matsirga, Katsit, Ungwan Masara, Bayan Loco and other affected communities.
“We are using the youth in these communities to get to others. And we will soon hold a town hall meeting of the youth in the affected areas of Southern Kaduna with a view to putting an end to the cycle of crises.”
