Flush Out Killer Herdsmen from Hideouts Now, Southern Kaduna Clergies Urge Security Agents

Flush Out Killer Herdsmen from Hideouts Now, Southern Kaduna Clergies Urge Security Agents

 

The leaderships of the Catholic and Anglican Dioceses of Kafanchan, Kaduna State, have urged security agents deployed to the crisis ridden southern part of the state to flushed out herdsmen from their hideouts to stop the pockets of killings going on in some communities.

They also said the dislodgment of the armed herdsmen from their hideouts in the bushes and hills would restore confidence in the people.

Speaking in separate telephone interviews with journalists on Tuesday in Kaduna on the security situation in Southern Kaduna following the deployment of security personnel to curb the incessant invasion of communities and  killings by suspected herdsmen, the Vicar General of the Kafanchan Catholic Arch Diocese, Rev. Fr. Ibrahim Yakubu, and the Kafanchan Bishop of the Anglican Diocese, Rt. Rev. Markus Dogo, said although calm has returned, there were still pockets of killings here and there, especially in some rural communities.

In his comment, Rev. Fr. Yakubu said: “Although the situation is calm, there are still pockets of killings here and there in places where the presence of the security is not felt, especially in rural communities.”

He added that people cannot  go to their farms while some villages were still completely deserted because of fear of attacks.

“We expected that the security agencies would have flushed out the attackers from their hideouts in the bushes and hills, but that has not been done yet and people are still leaving in fear,” the cleric added.

Also  clarifying the recent figures of casualty by the his church in which 808 people were allegedly killed in the attacks by herdsmen, the clergyman said the figures span from 2011 to 2016 and challenged  those disputing it to produce their own.

According to him, the church has the records of the attacks and killings as many of its members were victims of the attacks.

“The death toll recorded was from the end of 2011 to the end of 2016. I have read the figures given by NEMA in Northwest; we have details of the attacks, killings and destructions; it is our members that were killed and we have all the records,” he said.

On his part, Rt. Rev. Dogo noted that “there is relative calm, but there are cases of killings in the villages.

“Last week, somebody by the name Peter Danbaki was killed in a village called Bakin Kogi last week Monday and he was buried the following Wednesday."

He added that “up till now the farms are not accessible because the herdsmen are still in their hideouts and no farm dares to go to farm. We are yet to see the military or police entering the bushes to chase these people from their hideout.”

Dogo however said: “Life is going on in the towns, people are moving here and there. Yesterday, I went to Gidan Waya and I came back without any problem.”

Speaking further, the cleric said: “We were thinking that with the security presence, there could have been some kind of manhunt, some kind of invasion of the bushes by the security agencies to flush out the killers from their hideouts but we have not seen that yet.

“I cannot say that we are not satisfied with the security steps taken, but we are expecting that more should be done. Our people are predominantly farmers and they want to be able to go to their farms freely without being killed or harm. So they are expecting that the security personnel should comb the bushes where the herdsmen are hiding.”

Meanwhile, the state government has relaxed the curfew imposed on Kaura council area, Jema'a and Zangon Kataf Local Government Areas of the state.

The state security council at its meeting yesterday decided that the curfew would  commence from  7p.m. to 6a.m. daily.

Samuel Aruwan, spokesman to Governor Nasir El-Rufai said in a statement  that the decision was taken following  assessment  of security reports in the areas.