FG, Halt Senseless Killings in Southern Kaduna

The vicious attacks  on and ferocious destructions in Godogodo Chiefdom in Jema’a  Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Saturday, October 15, 2016 have left a sour taste in the mouth of Nigerians. Affecting six villages in the chiefdom, it is estimated that 29 persons were killed, 15 others injured, and  parts of the chiefdom […]

The vicious attacks  on and ferocious destructions in Godogodo Chiefdom in Jema’a  Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Saturday, October 15, 2016 have left a sour taste in the mouth of Nigerians. Affecting six villages in the chiefdom, it is estimated that 29 persons were killed, 15 others injured, and  parts of the chiefdom ruined, leaving hundreds of residents homeless and frustrated. Suspecting that the violent killings were carried out by Fulani herdsmen, aggrieved youths embarked on revenge killings. We strongly condemn both the indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of the people of Godogodo, and the savage physical violent deaths visited on innocent travellers on the highway in Kafanchan and other neighbouring communities.
In Nigeria’s contemporary history, Southern Kaduna has become one of the hot spot for cruel and violent killings, especially since the bloodshed that dovetailed the 2011 politics snaked into ethno-religious conflicts in that part of Kaduna State. The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), in 2014, estimated that there had been 53 bloody conflicts in the area between 2011 and 2014. The group added that not less than 4,000 persons had been killed in cold blood in the tit-for-tat attacks over this period, adding that the figures were so high because silent killings had been going on in villages, with most of the deaths neither documented nor reported in the media. Such tenor of violence is totally unacceptable and should be halted by the authorities.
Reports from Godogodo chiefdom gave the impression that the bloodshed in the community was an offshoot of herders versus farmers’ conflicts over competition for grazing and farmlands, the kind that has constituted insecurity from North to South. There are fears that the killer-herdsmen who have been framed as Fulani may have been on revenge mission, if Godogodo community had killed the herders’ kinsmen or their cattle during the series of disputes which SOKAPU alluded to since 2011. This has been the simple explanation for some of the interminable conflicts between herdsmen and farming communities in several states.
We, therefore, throw the challenge to Nigeria’s traditional institutions in conflict-prone communities to work out communal solutions to these senseless killings and wanton destruction of properties.  These community leaders must evolved mechanisms that would encourage their subjects to embrace legal approaches in seeking redress, instead of taking the law into their own hands by killing innocent persons, destroying crops and livestock in the name of revenge. If this is not halted, the circles of bloodbath and revenge would last for centuries.
Along this line, we call on the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria to rein in their members to ensure they seek redress using  legal  instruments and institutions provided by the Nigerian law, instead of resorting to the honorifical tradition of revenge passed on to them from generation to generation.  In this modern society with an established Rule of Law, Miyetti Allah leaders should enlighten their members to cast off traditions that truncate peace and security, and instead embrace those values that promote unity and prosperity.
On its part, law enforcement agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Security Service (DSS) must act swiftly to nip impeding violence in the bud before they lead to senseless deaths. On many occasions, victims of communal violence claim they had alerted security agencies of imminent attacks, but little or nothing was done before the criminals unleashed mayhem on them. It is for this reason that the people feel let down, embark on revenge killings and similar self-help measures. It is disservice to the nation for security agencies to look the other way when given tip-off instead of embarking on preventive operations to protect those they are paid to defend.
Now that the killings in Godogodo have taken place, we call on law enforcement agencies to investigate, arrest and prosecute those responsible for the criminal bloodshed. It is because ‘killer-herdsmen’ are not captured and made to face the law that their evil activities are attributed to the Fulani, providing mischief-makers the excuse to tag the Fulani as a violent people.  Nigerians cannot accept a situation whereby criminals invade communities, kill innocent persons, destroy properties, but security agencies throw up their arms helplessly, saying they could not arrest the perpetrators of such violence.
Furthermore, it has become imperative for the Federal Government to establish a special military operation in Southern Kaduna. Such force should be highly mobile and proactive to forestall the kind of bloodshed that took place in Godogodo. In the last couple of months, the ‘Operation Sharan Daji,’ set up to deal with cattle rustling and banditry in the North-West and North-East has delivered good results, turning the tide against the rustlers. A similar operation has become all-important in Southern Kaduna as a result of the spate of violent clashes between killer-herdsmen and peasant farmers.
At this juncture,  the Federal Government must demonstrated that it cares for the people of Southern Kaduna by investigating the cause(s) of the mayhem, bringing the masterminds to book, and compensating the victims of the attacks. It is worrisome that a week after the killings, the Federal Government had not issued any statement condemning the attack; neither has it sent a delegation to Godogodo to commiserate with the people.  Though Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i has visited the community and held a security council meeting there, his good works cannot be a substitute to the responsibility of the Federal Government to demonstrate that it cares for citizens of this country, irrespective of where they live.
Furthermore, we challenge the Federal Government to take a decisive step on the dangerous escalation of rural banditry across the country.  Increasingly our rural areas, which used to be known for peace and tranquility, have become territories where criminals peddle their trade without fear of arrest and punishment. The government must devise a new security strategy for our rural areas to ensure that those who live there can engage in their legitimate economic activities and live their social lives without the fear of being hounded to their early graves by robbers, bandits, kidnappers and other bloodthirsty criminals.