Tag: Southern Kaduna

Sparks are still flying in the aftermath of the recent killings in Southern Kaduna blamed on people suspected to be Fulani herdsmen. Individuals, many of them politicians, and groups are openly trading blames. And the brickbats are not about to stop. Correspondent ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE who toured the troubled areas during Christmas and Boxing Day, including Goska village which was attacked on the Christmas Eve, reports that with arms now in the hands of the once defenceless locals the incessant confrontations between the natives and the Fulani can only get bloodier.

ALMOST six years after the violence that trailed the 2011 presidential election in many parts of the North, Southern Kaduna appears to be the only area yet to get over the effects.
General Muhammadu Buhari, then candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) had been defeated in that election by President Goodluck Jonathan, sparking violence in much of the north.
Most of the people in Southern Kaduna are Christians who cast their lot with Jonathan, a fellow Christian in that election.
A group of Fulani Muslim herdsmen whom happened to be passing through Southern Kaduna at the time were caught up there by the mayhem. Some were killed and others were wounded.
Many of their cattle were stolen.
News of the attack soon went round.
It was only a matter of time before Fulani herdsmen launched a string of reprisal attacks.
Rather than abate, the crisis has continued to fester taking on different colourations
There is the ethnic angle as there are the religious and the political dimensions especially since the assumption of office by Malam Nasir el-Rufai, a Fulani Muslim, as governor of the state.
He has come under severe attack for not stopping the Fulani herdsmen from killings in Southern Kaduna.
The governor, according to a story in the area ,recruited Fulani from neighbouring countries to kill them after imposing a curfew on three local government areas of the state.
The curfew, as the story goes, gave the attackers an unhindered access to their communities, with Goska community in Jema’a Local Government Area coming under siege within 24 hours of the coming into effect of the curfew on Christmas eve.

President Buhari is not spared either.
He is accused of not speaking out against the mayhem or even giving enough protection to their communities.
Some other people say the predominantly Christian Southern Kaduna people are not blameless in the whole saga as they allegedly attack weak Fulani communities around them and also raid Fulani travellers passing through Southern Kaduna.
There have reports of unprovoked attacks by Southern Kaduna people on Fulani herdsmen on the field and sometimes in their villages , though with less brutality.
There is tension in the Fulani community of Dan-Goma, which borders the attacked Goska, following suspicion that the Christians plan to displace them from the village which they claim has been theirs for over 500 years.
An octogenarian community leader, Woje Dan-Goma said trouble started after the discovery of nickel in the Dan-Goma.
He said their neighbours want to take over the village and the control of the nickel.
“So, the Goska people have been terrorising us since the discovery of Nickel in our community. They know the actual Fulani people who attacked them.
They are fully aware that we were not responsible for the attack, but because they are already angry with us over the discovery of nickel on our land, they have been looking for opportunities to get at us and displace us, because they see us as a weaker community.
“Even before the attack on their village, Goska people had been trying to starve us. They stopped people who used to come to sell food to us in our village. Just two days ago, they bought all the bread they needed from the distributor that brings bread for us and turned back the vehicle”, he said.
For their part, the Southern Kaduna locals believe that the incessant attacks on them by the Fulani is all about religious cleansing and a continuation of an Islamic jihad as well as expansion of the Hausa-Fulani territory.
Incidentally, the bloody confrontation between the two sides raged even during the brief governorship tenure of a Southern Kaduna native, the late Patrick Yakowa.
Yakowa served as deputy to then Governor Namadi Sambo from April 2007.
He became governor in 2010 after Sambo was picked as Vice President.
Yakowa successfully ran for the governorship in the April 2011 election only to die in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa State in December 2012.

PEACE EFFORTS
Efforts by Yakowa and his successor Ramalan Yero to stop the killings and bring about peace did not go far.
Yakowa set up a Peace and Reconciliation Committee which made far reaching recommendations, but he did not live to implement them.
El-Rufai in his first year appeared to have found an answer to the problem only for violence to break out afresh earlier this year.
The General Martin Luther Agwai Committee which he set up on the problem traced some of the Fulani herdsmen attacked in the post 2011 election violence to Niger Republic, Chad and other neighbouring countries.
It recommended that some of them be compensated for the losses they suffered.
Explaining his position, Rufai said: “For Southern Kaduna, we didn’t understand what was going on and we decided to set up a committee under Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd) to find out what was going on there. What was established was that the root of the problem has a history starting from the 2011 post-election violence.
“Fulani herdsmen from across Africa bring their cattle down towards Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria. The moment the rain starts around March, April, they start moving them up to go back to their various communities and countries.
“Unfortunately, it was when they were moving up with their cattle across Southern Kaduna that the elections of 2011 took place and the crisis trapped some of them. Some of them were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal. Fulanis are in 14 African countries and they traverse this country with the cattle.
“So many of these people (the foreign Fulanis) were killed, cattle lost and they organised themselves and came back to revenge. So a lot of what was happening in Southern Kaduna was actually from outside Nigeria. We got a hint that the late Governor Patrick Yakowa got this information and he sent someone to go round some of these Fulani communities, but of course after he died, the whole thing stopped. That is what we inherited. But the Agwai committee established that.
“We took certain steps. We got a group of people that were going round trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger republic and so on to tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem paying compensations for lives lost and he is begging them to stop killing.
“In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they have forgiven the death of human beings, but want compensation for cattle. We said no problem, and we paid some. As recently as two weeks ago, the team went to Niger republic to attend one Fulani gathering that they hold every year with a message from me.”
The Chief of Kaninkon, Jema’a Local Government (Tum Nikyob Kaninkon) in Southern Kaduna, Mallam Tanko Tete recently told the General Officer Commanding 1 Division Nigerian Army that “Our youths are fed up with the destruction of farmlands by the Fulani herdsmen. They farm, but Fulani herdsmen don’t allow them enjoy fruit of their labour.
“The perception is that government is behind the Fulani herdsmen, because they are never caught. I don’t believe them, but there is mistrust, because there is a widespread belief that government is supporting the herdsmen.
“ Some of the Fulani people told our youths that President Muhammadu Buhari will arm them (the Fulani). So anytime a helicopter flies around here there is the belief that it has come to supply arms to the Fulani people. That is why the youths are thinking the government is not ready to defend them.”
Twice, Rufai and members of the State Security Council relocated to the troubled area for their meeting with a view to having a first hand assessment of the situation.
That is in addition to plan by the Federal Government to establish two military formations in Southern Kaduna, and other security measures to stem the blood shedding.
Representatives of 29 communities in Southern Kaduna followed suit by unveiling a Peace Apology Billboard in Samaru-Kataf, saying sorry to each other for their part in the suffering which violence has caused in the area.
The community representatives were trained by a foreign non-governmental organisation, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, which has assisted in restoring peace in Plateau State. The Centre’s boss, Alice Nderitu, a Kenyan said Nigeria, as the leader of the black nations in the world, ought to set examples for other African countries on peaceful co-existence.
She suggested that, as part of efforts to restore peace in Southern Kaduna, Churches, Mosques and vehicles destroyed during previous crisis should be rebuilt, as leaving them in their state of destruction ends up registering a negative and devastating impression on the minds of growing up children.
In reaction to her request therefore, Rufai announced the donation of N100 million to support the rebuilding of the damaged churches and mosques, saying, his government has drafted a bill to set up the Kaduna State Peace Commission in fulfilment of the promises he made in 2015.
He said: “The challenge of achieving peace and justice is a complex process that requires imagination, wide consultations, technical support, research and time. I have promised you change. I will not be derailed from the legacy of peace that Southern Kaduna deserves from my generation.
“This state belongs to everyone that has chosen to make it home. Let us respect each other, abide by the law, do our duty to uphold harmony and firmly reject division and violence! Today we are here to launch a Public Apology Billboard, as we grief over the lives sadly taken in the recent violence in the Godogodo chiefdom. Why, our children ask, are we able to discuss peace for decades but not find it on the ground?
“Now, 29 ethnic communities of Southern Kaduna present a Public Apology billboard to us. These people represented their communities at the dialogues that resulted in the Kafanchan Peace Declaration. They were sent to represent their communities by their leaders. Wide consultation within their communities was carried out in selecting them. Their input and contribution to peace in Southern Kaduna has been crucial. Allow me to opine that leaders are not born and neither are they made”.
“They are summoned by circumstances and whoever steps forth and provides a solution becomes a leader. These men and women who have given us the public apology billboard saw one of our problems as the lack of peace. They have stepped forward and began providing solutions. They have decided to own their peace as communities. These people are leaders”.
“These group of resilient leaders drawn from different religions and ideologies have now been joined by many more, ordinary citizens, who are now going around Southern Kaduna, seeking the buy in of traditional elders, community and religious leaders, women women, youth and the civil society to never again indulge in violence.”
REACTIONS
But gone now, following the latest round of killings, is the gain made in restoring peace to the area by government .
The Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) and the Senator Representing the area, Danjuma La’ah denounced the state government for what they perceived as its mishandling of the situation.
Senator La’ah in a statement said there was never a time in 2011 that Fulanis from Mali, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Mali and Senegal were killed in Southern Kaduna with their cattle.
“This is a silly and an absurd lie. Southern Kaduna is not a junction of these countries. So how could they have all converged on Southern Kaduna on their usual migration back home? The Governor just invented this lie to make excuse for his imported murderous Fulani kindred to continue their extermination of our people and the occupation of our lands.
“As the main political leader and representative of Southern Kaduna at the Federal level, despite many overtures of trying to meet with the governor over the insecurity in my zone with no success, he has never deemed it fit to inform me of these actions so as to seek my views and that of my constituency over the matter.
“This is a very curious development, especially as I was able to make the Senate to pass a resolution asking the Federal Government to declare a State of Emergency on Security in Southern Kaduna last month. I expected him to cash on that, using his connection with the President and Commander-in-Chief. But, he was obviously not concerned.
“In the light of the above, the Federal Government, especially the Nigeria Intelligence Agency, NIA, the Directorate of State Services, SSS, the Directorate of Military Intelligence, DMI and sundry agencies should look no further for the solution to the unrelenting killings in Southern Kaduna. El-Rufai must be held to produce the killers of innocent Nigerians since he has been able to identify them and their locations. This will lead to their sponsors in Nigeria and other places. Nigeria should then use its diplomatic relationship and extradite these murderers of its citizens, plunderers and arsonists to face justice in Nigeria.
“ I am pleading with Kaduna State indigenes and residents to ask why he has stubbornly refused to render basic assistance of rebuilding of even a home, or any form of monetary assistance to the surviving victims in Southern Kaduna. Most are still left without food and shelter despite the modest assistance that some of us, churches, NGOs etc have continued to render from time to time.
“I am constrained to add that Nasir El-Rufai with his lack of will to show commitment to the insecurity in Southern Kaduna, and his resolve to carry on with over six Cattle Grazing Reserves in Southern Kaduna, he is actually creating new, permanent “conquered” settlements for his Fulani kinsmen. I said this because his Fulani brothers have killed people and chased them out from their communities and are now fully settled with their families and cattle in several villages in Kaura, Sanga and Jema’a Local Government Areas, while the governor turns his eyes the other way round.
“My conviction on this is based on the findings that the State government was able to wage a concerted war against cattle thieves and bandits in the expansive forests and hills of Birnin Gwari environs and easily succumbed the criminals, but has refused to extend even a fraction of that effort to save precious human lives and human communities in Southern Kaduna. The simple reason is that just as it is in the interest of law abiding Fulani to recover their cattle and goats in Birnin Gwari from same rogue Fulani, it is also in the interest of Fulani to leave our damaged and, yet to be ruined communities, weak and helpless for them to easily take over.
“I hinged my belief on the above based on threat the governor gave against Southern Kaduna trying to defend itself from the unprovoked aggression. He said in that story:
“There are people that are sending a message, defend yourselves. We will get them. Defend yourself is hate speech. You can’t defend yourself if there is a government. We are going to arrest and prosecute all those that pass that message.”
“To me, this is very strange and ridiculous. But it is also pregnant with meanings. Why is the governor saying that Southern Kaduna should not deploy self-defence when Fulani marauders come hacking them down and burning their communities with the governor unable to tame his brothers?
” It cannot be that Nasir el-Rufai is unaware that section Chapter VII, Article 51 of the Human Right Charter of the United Nations and Section 33(2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria has affirmed self-defence as a Human Right. I see this as a threat to scarce Southern Kaduna from standing up to the his Fulani killer brothers.”
“Based on this, I call Governor Nasir El-Rufai to first arrest me. Because I am calling on Southern Kaduna, once more to use every available legitimate means to defend their lives, property and communities. History will not forgive our generation if we succumb to threats and blackmail and fail to defend ourselves and get wiped out. As the Senator of the beleaguered area, I cannot support that we become sitting ducks each time they come killing. Again, if El-Rufai will not defend us, let us defend ourselves.
“I call on all Southern Kaduna natives, all Hausa and Fulani of our area who are genuinely interested in peace to forget about political, tribal and religious leanings and come together in prayers and for genuine dialogue amongst ourselves as the last option left for peace and security in Southern Kaduna.”
SOKAPU , like Senator La’ah, preached the self-defence message, asking communities in the southern part of the state to take adequate measures to protect themselves against the murderous and destructive activities of Fulani herdsmen which has the area.
In one of its many statements condemning the Fulani killings attack, SOKAPU said the time had come for communities to explore other means of thwarting the persistent attacks which had ravaged some of the communities.
The statement which was signed by the President of SOKAPU, Mr. Solomon Musa, a lawyer, maintained that the people owe themselves a duty to adopt measures for self-defence in order to put a stop to the massive killings and destruction by rampaging Fulani herdsmen. This, according to him, is the only way to complement efforts by the state government to curtail the killings.
“We are also calling on the people of communities in Southern Kaduna that have borne the brunt of countless attacks from suspected herdsmen, to begin to explore other self-help means of thwarting these persistent attacks that have left some of the Southern Kaduna people in ruins.
“This self-help is to complement whatever measures the state government has/is taking to curtail these killings. We owe it to ourselves to reduce the numbers of mass graves used in burying our people; from becoming increased features of our communities.
“Violence is no stranger to many of our local government areas. Natives of the areas have been massacred in indescribable manners for years. In the past two years, more than 200 people have been killed so far in Sanga Local Government alone.”
In another statement, SOKAPU opined that the governor should be held responsible for the killings in Goska, Jema’a local government area during the curfew he imposed on three local government areas.
National Public Relations Officer of the union, Mr. Yakubu Kuzamani, who signed the statement said: “Ironically, on a day that our people ought to be joyously celebrating the Christmas festivities, was the day they were reduced to burying their loved ones, treating the wounded in hospitals and coping with a fresh batch of internally displaced people of Goska village whose houses were burnt down.
“They were burnt and killed on 24th December 2016, while happily engrossed in preparing for the Christmas celebration, secured in their knowledge that a 24-hour curfew meant to keep them indoors would also keep away their killers. Alas how wrong they were.”
“While people were forced to stay indoors, pampered marauding herdsmen whose presence around Goska has been noticed and reported by people around that area for almost three days, attacked the town and for hours killed and burnt without let or hindrance from security.
“This amply confirmed our assertion that the 24-hour curfew slammed on the three LGs in Southern Kaduna was just to punish the people for daring to protest the persistent killings in their villages on 20th December when El-rufai visited kafanchan.
“It means the Governor lied on December 21 when, in justifying the 24-hour curfew slammed on the 3 LGs said the State Security Council took the step following credible intelligence about risk to lives and property in the areas.
“More than 20 communities have been attacked and hundreds killed without the Governor getting any ‘credible intelligence’ to protect lives and property but he became drowned in ‘credible intelligence’ to justify his curfew when youths and women protested the killings in his presence.
“To confirm that the Governor’s sole intention was to punish those who protested against him, look at the answer he gave State House correspondents when on 22nd December, he visited Aso Rock to get endorsement for the 24-hour curfew from Mr. President.
“He said, ‘I don’t think the state government should be blamed, those responsible for the violence that broke out in those parts of the state should be held responsible for that. We have not imposed curfew in other parts of the state, we had to impose curfew here because of the situation that was caused by irresponsible behaviour by certain people.’
“Those who initially thought the 24-hour curfew was to stop the herdsmen from continuous killings now can see the real reason for it.
“Even the hundreds of policemen, soldiers and other security personnel quickly drafted to those 3 LGs, especially Kafanchan were just to enforce the curfew and arrest those the governor felt disrespected him or trying to defend themselves and not to stop the killings.
“This was further confirmed by the attack on Goska, because despite the hundreds of security men brought in from all over, Goska village, just some few kilometers away from Kafanchan town was still attacked. And like always, the security went to Goska village after the marauders had killed, burnt and left.
“Where was the surveillance helicopter that flew round Kafanchan during the day? What happened to it during the attack? Where were all the hundreds of security personnel quickly mobilized to Southern Kaduna?
“For some time we have been crying and screaming ourselves hoarse that we need security in Southern Kaduna but nobody paid any attention until when someone felt the need to ensure that his curfew isn’t flouted.
“With the attack on Goska, who will the governor now blame? He has blamed everybody for the continued killings in Southern Kaduna except himself or those he paid money to stop the killings. So who will he now blame for the Goska attack? Maybe they were Niger Delta militants disguised as Fulanis.
“We are saying it calmly that all men of goodwill should hold Governor El-rufai responsible for the killings in Goska, due to his inflated ego, unguarded utterances, appallingly undignified conduct in handling the killings in Southern Kaduna and his morbid penchant for deliberately living in denial of the actual people and reasons for the killings in our area since he became Governor.”
The church was not left out in the blame game.
The 19 District Church Council (DCC), Fellowship of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Kaduna State described the attacks on Southern Kaduna communities as spiritual cleansing and blamed the government for the crisis.
It said: “there are currently desperate and well funded plans to make lives unbearable within the Christian dominated Southern Kaduna in Kaduna State. Some of this violence comes in form of threats, psychological warfare, outright massacre of the indigenes, pregnant women, the aged, forceful abduction and conversion of minors into Muslims, and wicked efforts to occupy Southern Kaduna through ethno-religious cleansing perpetrated by Fulani Herdsmen Militia.
“Currently, 16 Attakad villages have been lost to the Fulani militia, and Fulani men are now fully settled with their cattle and families, in Mayit, Agwom, Zakai Gira, Tunga Magwot, Telak, Zakum and Kirim.
“Several ECWA churches have been destroyed; along with those belonging to other denominations, and many of our members have become IDPs. The Attakad Community Development Association, has confirmed that at least 180 people have been killed in Attakad Chiefdom since 2013 and 10,000 persons displaced. In 2014, several communities in Sanga LGA, were invaded and hundreds of people killed by these armed herdsmen, with no apparent provocation. In an indication of their underlying religious hostility and motivation, churches are usually prime targets.
“Today, Fulani occupy Unguwan Dauda, where they have cultivated large farmlands and have erected permanent structures roofed with corrugated zinc. Antor Maisamari in Aboro District, Numana Chiefdom is now occupied by Fulani, and indigenes who survived the attacks have fled the area. To further buttress the assertion that there is an orchestrated plan to drive our members and other indigenes out of these parts of Southern Kaduna, it appears that the next stage will involve the full takeover, Godogodo Chiefdom, in Jema’a LGA. Part of Godogodo town, Ninte, Akwa, Ungwar Anjo, Gada Biyu have been overrun and occupied by the Fulani. Churches in these villages are laid to waste after being burnt.”
THE NEW TREND
The ‘defend yourself’ campaign in Southern Kaduna seems to have sucked in many youths of Southern Kaduna extraction.
More and more arms are finding their ways into the many homes and into hands that ought not to even touch them in the first instance.
During a tour of the affected village by 1 Division GOC, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade some youths clad in black were intercepted with ammunitions and charms.
It appeared they were returning from an attack as they had expended their bullets.
At Goska, arms bearing youths ostensibly protesting alleged late response by security personnel to come to the rescue of the village ,reportedly fired at policemen.
Only the intervention of a senior security officer stopped the police personnel from returning fire.
Securitymen also had to step in to foil an alleged planned reprisal attacks by tGoska youth on a neighbouring Fulani community.
The youth claimed they had intelligence report that Fulani from Dan-Goma community were planning to attack them. So, they thought, it was better to strike before the Fulani meet them at home.
Sources said the truth was that the Fulani had only gathered to bury a member of the community who had died earlier that day.
General Oyebade, during the tour warned Goska youths against moving out of their community with weapons.
He said his men would, at the appropriate time, disarm both the Fulani and the locals to end the cycle of reprisal killings.
His words:” the reason I am not going to disarm you now is that the Army does not want to appear to be making you vulnerable to attack, but I can assure that the Army is here, the police are also here to protect everybody – the locals, the Fulani and any law abiding citizen. But I will not tolerate anyone moving out of his community with weapons. If I catch you, I disarm you and deal with you.”
The GOC at a separate a meeting with youths of Kagoma Chiefdom ordered the immediate deployment of troops to Ninte, a Southern Kaduna community where the renewed attacks started from in May.
The Chief of Kagoma, Paul Zakka Gyon who was at the meeting had requested the deployment of the soldiers to restore confidence of the displaced natives to return home.

HOW TO END THE KILLINGS
The state government will have to do a lot more than it is doing now to regain the confidence of the warring sides.
Anything short of that will only compound the situation.
An elder statesman and retired Major General Adamu Dyari believes that since the crisis in Southern Kaduna revolves around land, the age long practice of grazing cattle should be abolished and ranching system be adopted.
“The problem is all about land,” he said.
“ The population has kept increasing, while land remains constant. The land that in the last 20 years belonged to one person now belongs to about 20 people. So, the problem basically is that some people are now joining us to share the same land. They want to graze. This is causing more tension. So, ranching is the way out. In Zimbabwe for example, people do ranching, not grazing.
“In addition to that, the government should take a proactive measure to disarm the Fulani and mop up their weapons. This will help douse the tension that has already been generated. If all these are done, I believe peace will return”, he said.
Chairman Plateau State Council of Chiefs, the Gbong-Gwom Jos, Jacob Gyang Buba who was in Southern Kaduna recently explained the similarities of the Plateau and Kaduna violence and recommended the Plateau formula to end the Kaduna killings.
According to Gbong-Gwom Jos, “Alice Nderitu and her team from Center for Humanitarian Dialogue came to me and gave me a brief of exactly what is happening here in Kaduna. Of course we have read about it in newspapers; we have seen it on television what was happening in this part of the country that is neighbouring Plateau State. And they appealed to me to come here so that we can talk to the people, our brothers and sisters here about how to stay in peace.
“They did this because like you all know we have had our serious challenges in Plateau state; challenges that are very distasteful. Lives were lost, communities turn apart. Up till today, there are some villages that are still vacant; the natives have not gone back to their villages but we want to thank God almighty for the relative peace we are enjoying on the Plateau. And we will want to thank Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue that came in to Plateau over three years ago. They came to the palace and requested that we give them people from the communities to work with. After introducing themselves, and I will be honest enough to say in my mind, I said another talk shop. But I want to say today that I thank God that we have the patience to allow Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue to work with our various communities for the relative peace we are enjoying today.
“Governor of Plateau, upon coming on to the seat of governance, immediately called the Berom community and he had a serious discussions with us after which he called the Fulani communities and had serious discussions with them. Thereafter, he called both the Berom and Fulani communities and had a discussion with them. At the end of which he suggested that we get representatives of the Fulani and the Berom, and that government was going to put in place a committee to work with these groups so that they can dialogue and talk to themselves. He encouraged that nobody should shy away from the issues that are creating problems. And this team sat together and they came up with a very beautiful report that virtually tallied with the report that the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue had packaged with very serious recommendations.
“It will interest you to know that in the Gazette for the selection of kings in Berom land, the head of Fulani is a king maker despite not being a historical indigene, but because we stayed together for so long it was the wisdom of the elders to ensure that since we have stayed particularly with them, let them have a sense of belonging and that is why the ‘Ardos’ (head of Fulani) participate as a king maker in the selection of District Heads in the entirety of Berom land. I met it there and we are working with that. We will continue to work with that.
“Having told you I am Berom, I am sure you will be wondering why is my name Buba? Buba is a Fulani name. But this is because my grandfather had a very intimate Fulani friend called Buba. So when they gave birth to my father, the Fulani man said this boy is my namesake and my father was named Buba. After that they never gave him any Berom name again and that is why I bear Buba. If at that time these old people could do this, why are we tearing ourselves apart? Why can’t we find a common ground on which to rejoice in? It is indeed very sad. But I want to also remind all of us the reality of the history of Nigeria. May be those in administrations should copy some of what is being done years back. And what brought peace in those days when local government was managed by the traditional institutions. I am not asking us to go back there, but let us not get into the habit of discarding everything old and want to repackage everything new because there is wisdom in what was happening. Let us find common ground where we can work together. There was no way in those days that any visitor, any stranger, could get into any ward without being recognized. And the ward head will interview that person to know where they are coming from to know what their mission is and they will tell the Sarki we have these visitors. But today none of us knows our neighbour and by neighbour, I mean even the one living next to us. That is the extent to which distrust has crept into us.”
Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduna Central) is of the view that security presence in every community and the establishment of community security, otherwise known as Civilian JTF will help in ending the killings.
His words: “The way out of this mess is the need for security presence in all the villages and towns in Southern Kaduna. There is also need for civilians JTF where the communities will fully involve fund and support to protect their own Communities.
“It is unfortunate that Southern Kaduna has become a slaughter house and a cemetery, where human lives have become so cheap to destroy. There is therefore the need for an immediate action to nip the activities of these herdsmen killing innocent people.
“I think ending this problem has gone beyond what people are thinking. It should be accompanied with an economic blueprint to face the problem of underdevelopment and neglect of the Southern part of the state.
“Neutralising Southern Kaduna is not enough without any economic agenda. We must develop the area and make all parts of the area accessible by providing infrastructure and developing social amenities as the only way we can have a permanent solution.
“Also, there is need to have consultative community interactions to enable the natives and Cattle rearers and others ethnic groups interact for better understanding. The federal government must provide the necessary environment.”