When will Southern Kaduna know peace?

Southern Kaduna consists of eight local government areas in Kaduna State. Unfortunately, today, the area is enmeshed in a long line of crisis. The raging crisis which has claimed many lives has the natives pitched against the Fulani herdsmen. According to reports, the crisis escalated since May 26, 2016 resulting in the killing of over 100.

What has remained an unsettling question is how could the natives and the herdsmen’s once friendly relationship have degenerated into such? Speaking in an interview by Nigerian Tribune, a resident, Amos Tauna, stated that “I am really baffled with the situation in Southern Kaduna. We lived with our neighbors in peacef until recently. I think the best thing is for us to sit down and search for the perpetrators of this dastardly act. We cannot remain like this.”

 

The crisis has nothing to do with ethnicity, religion—Gov

Nonetheless, the governor of the state,  Nasir El Rufai  has said that the killings in Southern Kaduna by suspected herdsmen is pure criminality and has nothing to do with ethnicity and religion. Speaking to a group of journalists, the governor faulted the statement credited to the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Supo Ayokunle, who had earlier described the attacks as religious cleansing. El Rufai pointed out that “the same Fulanis are killing Fulanis in hundreds in Zamfara State. It has nothing to do with religion or ethnicity. It is pure banditry.”

To this end, the governor pleaded with leaders to be mindful of their utterances and to stop encouraging their people to resort to self-help. “Let us fight the problem; let us not bring sentiments, sensationalism and division into it,” he added.

Speaking in the same vein, the national president of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Muhammad Kiruwa said his fellow Fulani herdsmen had lost thousands of cattle to the activities of these marauders. According to him, “each time they blame the Fulanis for the attacks, I feel sad.”

 

A committee of inquiry

The state government in tackling the crisis set up a committee of inquiry. The General Martin Luther Agwai Committee was saddled with the responsibility of unraveling the cause of the unrest.

In its submission, the committee found out that the killings in the area were rooted in the 2011 post-election violence, where Fulanis from Cameroun, Chad, and Niger Republic were killed in Southern Kaduna while they were returning to their countries.

“They organized themselves and came back for revenge,” El Rufai said, adding that “a lot of what is happening in Southern Kaduna and Plateau State is actually from outside Nigeria.”

The governor said when he came on board he discovered former Governor Patrick Yakowa had sent emissaries to some of these Fulani communities in neighboring countries in order to make peace “but after his death, the whole thing stopped.”

In his intervention, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Mechanised division of the Nigerian Army, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade summoned stakeholders to a meeting at Kachia to discuss on how to address the security challenges in the area.  At the end of the interaction, Oyebade stated that stakeholders agreed on the immediate stoppage of any form of violent activity, illegal display of arms and hiring of mercenary to cause violence or carry out attacks in the area.

Reading the resolutions of the meeting held behind closed doors for over five hours at the Nigerian Army School of Artillery in Kachia, the GOC said, the meeting also resolved to stop children from grazing cattle, having identified such as one of the sources of farmer/herdsmen clashes.

The GOC stated further, “We agreed that there will be immediate stoppage to all forms of violent activities from all the stakeholders. We want to encourage the setting up of peace and reconciliation committees at the ward levels, district levels and the local government level by the Fulani herdsmen, the locals and other critical stakeholders in the various communities. Their focus will be to continue the effort which is started here today to deal with all the local issues that may trigger any form of violent activities.

“It has also been agreed that children will stop being at the helms of grazing cattle in Kaduna State and in the North West zone, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria has made that commitment that they are going to make sure that all children are prevented from shepherding their cattle because it has been identified as one of the areas of conflict. The children who herd do not know much about the area, especially those sections of the area in which they should not allow cattle to graze. Perpetrators of any destruction of farm lands or killing of cattle will be brought before the committees that will be set up by the various levels with the aim of administering justice to make sure that if there are penalties to be paid, they should be done after being agreed by members of the committee at the various levels.

“It has also been agreed that within the next few days, efforts will be made at all levels to call all their members including the youth, the Fulani herdsmen from carrying weapons when moving around. The use of weapons by anybody other than the security forces is absolutely and completely illegal.”

The GOC also urged the critical stakeholders to be mindful of introducing issues of ethnicity and religion into the crisis. “We must be wary of the fact that this is a cause of action that will do no good to anybody, we must look at these issues and deal with them appropriately.

“Whether it is true or not that the Fulani or the herdsmen bring in mercenary herdsmen with the purpose of carrying out attacks in the various communities, while it has not been verified, we want to urge our brothers, the Fulani herdsmen and of course our locals to desist henceforth from bringing in outsiders into the affairs of your various communities. We believe strongly that these issues can be resolved in-house.”

Laudable as the resolutions appeared last month, hell was let loose at Chawai, in Kauru Local Government Area of the state. Indeed, the killings of over 50 people and the destruction of over 100 houses by suspected herdsmen threw the entire area into mourning. Findings reveal that the attack was alleged to have been carried out by one Haruna. A source who pleaded anonymity disclosed that the suspect was once grazing in the area when he was forced to leave the area. According to the source, when he was leaving he vowed revenge.

“So, when the village was attacked, we had no other suspect in mind but him. Interestingly, when the governor came on a condolence visit as well as on the spot assessment, having heard from the natives, directed that the culprit surrender himself or he would be declared wanted. A visibly angry governor contended that his government would not condone any act of lawlessness.”

According to the source, findings revealed that the culprit had relocated to Bauchi with his family. Before the dust settled, exactly two weeks after, at Tun village,  a man was brutally murdered by suspected herdsmen thus, youths in the area  besieged Samaru Kataf, where the Kafanchan peace declaration was signed by 29 communities in the area and blocked major highways.

The rampaging youths, it was learnt, burnt down the giant billboard that carried the inscription of the peace accord. The youths were also said to have burnt down some vehicles and killed dozens of other people who were plying the road. It should be noted that the peace declaration which was masterminded by a Kenyan lady was aimed at bringing to an end the carnage in the area. It was gathered that the same Kenyan lady brokered the peace process in Plateau State.

However, the senator representing the Southern Kaduna district, Senator Danjuma Lah saw the peace efforts differently. He still blamed the state government of not doing enough.

In a statement issued to newsmen in Kaduna recently, Lah blamed the state government for the crisis in the area. He said while the governor had tackled the rustling in Birnin Gwari axis, he failed to address that of southern Kaduna.

“I am pleading with Kaduna State indigenes and residents to ask why the governor 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,” he asked.

However, in a swift reaction, the Interim Management Committee chairmen of the Jema’a and Kaura local government councils of Kaduna State, Dr. Bege Katuka and Mr Alex Giwa Iya, said the senator was being economical with the truth.

According to them, “Senator La’ah is a very responsible man and for him to make such public comment that the state government has showed no concern on the killings in Southern Kaduna is very unfortunate.

“It is also very unfortunate for Senator Laah to come out and opine that government is behind the killings in southern Kaduna. Whoever says this government is not doing anything towards resolving the crisis is trying to give this government a bad name.

“Since 26th May, efforts have been made to put the past behind us. These are people who have been living together for over several decades base on trust. What we need at this point in time is for our leaders to join forces, irrespective of their political differences to address this problem head-on. We must avoid politicising security, at least for the sake of the innocent people who are being killed.”

The council chairmen, however, reiterated that the way forward to a peaceful Southern Kaduna is dialogue and genuine reconciliation. They therefore extended hands of fellowship to all state and federal lawmakers of Southern Kaduna extraction to join them in their efforts to bring back peace, without relating it to politics or religion.

They stressed, “We will continue to ensure reconciliation and negotiation, because this is the best means of achieving peace and harmony in southern Kaduna.” They also announced that eleven communities in the area that have been affected by the crisis have started returning to their homes since after the Godogodo crisis.

Speaking in the same vein, Bishop Hassan Kukah advised the youths in the area against taking up arms. In an interview in Kaduna, he said the people have cause to be angry but warned them against revenge. Instead, he attributed to the current insecurity challenges facing the southern kaduna and other parts of the country to government inability to crack down on perpetrators.

“Our security needs sophisticated equipment to operate and monitor the movements of these hoodlums. A human right activist and lawyer, Mr Fetus Okoye also called on the federal government to deploy soldiers to the area, saying the protection of lives and property of the citizenry lies squarely on the shoulders of government.