GUNMEN suspected to be Fulani herdsmen struck again in Zangang village of Atakar Chiefdom in the Kaura Local Government area of Kaduna State on Tuesday, killing 11 people.
Many more people were missing while several others sustained injuries.
The invaders burnt many houses during the attack which started on Saturday and became more ferocious by Tuesday.
Kaduna State Government condemned the attacks, saying measures were being taken to ensure lasting peace in the area.
Narrating the ordeal to newsmen in a telephone interview, District Head of Zangang, Yohanna Daniel, whose house was also burnt to ashes and who was thought to have died in the attack, said he escaped death by the whiskers.
According to him, the invaders started their attack on Saturday through Monday and Tuesday, adding that Tuesday’s attack was more deadly, as the gunmen who, he alleged, were Fulani herdsmen, trooped to the village in large numbers, shouting “Allah akbar (Allah is great)” and shooting sporadically at residents.
He said the invaders were dressed in black and red, and wielded AK 47 rifles “and pursuing people like chickens.”
Daniel further alleged that the security personnel deployed in the area were not on ground when the gunmen arrived.
According to him, “On Saturday, the Fulani herdsmen came to our residential premises with their cows and one of the boys in the community asked them why they were bringing their cows into our homes.
“Then they opened fire on him, but the boy was lucky, as the bullet missed him and he escaped.
“On Sunday we did not go to church. They attacked us again. Two of our boys were shot and were rushed to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) in Plateau State.
“On Sunday we sat down and discussed and we said there was the need for us to find a solution to this problem because these people are going about with their cows, carrying sophisticated guns.
“They will enter your farm and once you talk to them, they will open fire on you. We felt this will not help us and we thought there is need for us to come together and address this issue.
“Soldiers from Plateau and Kaduna states gave order that nobody among my children who have dane guns that they have been using for hunting should use them again.
“Today they were armed with AK47. Those who entered my village were well armed. It was like some of the things I used to watch in the movies.
“They were dressed in black and red, with sophisticated guns. They entered our village and were shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’, they were in large numbers.
“I cannot tell how many they were, but they were in large numbers.
“They started shooting us and everybody was running for his dear life. They were pursuing us like chickens. I was lucky; otherwise you would have heard that the District Head was killed.
“I just managed to escape. When my people didn’t see me, they thought that I was killed. But they burnt my house and several other houses.
“We have discovered 11 corpses and we are just burying the corpses now. We are still searching for more bodies because many people are still missing.
“The police ordered us to do the burial. The police came and took pictures of everything and the names of those who were killed.
“We are under serious threat of elimination here and nobody seems to be telling the world about the danger we are facing in the hands of these Fulanis.
“They go about with AK47 guns and are terrorising our communities. We cannot defend ourselves because we don’t have arms like them. We are really finding it difficult to survive here.
“We are told that there is security, whereas there is no security. If there is security why are these people always attacking us at will and killing us?
“I am a village man, nobody may hear me but I am speaking the truth. The Fulani want to pursue us from our lands,” the district head told newsmen.
The incident was said to have dominated discussions at the State Security Council meeting presided over by Governor Muktar Yero on Tuesday.
Spokesman of the Governor, Ahmed Maiyaki, in a telephone interview said the government was working out a solution to the problem.
According to Maiyaki, “This incident has happened repeatedly, what government has resolved to do is to have direct engagement with the people of this community and the Fulani leadership for a lasting solution.
“Government commiserates with the victims of the unfortunate attack. Government has also directed security agencies to intensify the provision of security,” Maiyaki said.
In a related development, Ombatse, the Eggon ethnic cult group, has denied that it was responsible for the killing of scores of policemen at Alakyo, near Assakio, headquarters of the Lafia East Development Area (DA) of Nasarawa State.
The group, however, accepted that 76-year-old Lega Agu (alias Baba Alakyo) is its ‘chief priest’.
The group which spoke through the Eggon Cultural Development Association (ECDA), however, noted that “just because he (Baba Alakyo) is the chief priest (of the group), that does not mean that it was the Ombatse that carried out the attack.”
The ECDA President, Chris Mamman, however blamed the Alakyo crisis on miscreants allegedly masterminded by disgruntled politicians who had prior to the 2011 general elections “declared there was no vacancy in Nasarawa Government House.”
“This is their only way to pay the Eggons back for the prominent role we played in the emergence of Al-Makura as Governor (of Nasarawa State).”
Mamman who spoke at a press briefing held on Tuesday at the palace of the paramount ruler of the Eggon people, ‘Aren Eggon’, at Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Area of the state, said the association condemned the Alakyo incident.
He maintained that with the emergence of Umaru Tanko Al-Makura as Governor, those aggrieved politicians have perfected plans to tarnish the image of the
Eggon people by inciting communal strife and blaming such on the
Eggons.
Mamman insisted that linking the killings to Ombatse and politicising
the issue is only diverting government away from those that committed
the crime.
He described Ombatse as a spiritual organisation, just like any of the established religions, with set of guiding principles.
“While we condemn the untimely death of policemen and other villagers, we join other Nigerians in questioning the rationale behind sending that number of police and other security agents to, according to reports, arrest one man (Baba Alakyo).”
Meanwhile, the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North on Tuesday met behind closed doors with President Goodluck Jonathan “to hear his side of the story.”
The committee is chaired by Minister of Special Duties, Tanimu Turaki.
He told journalists at the State House that having met with security and prison officials in addition to some detained insurgents, it was time for the committee to also hear the Presidency’s position on the Boko Haram insurgency that has ravaged the North for some time now.
“Having interacted with most of the security agencies, we feel we have come to the critical stage where we also need to hear what the government side is. That was what we came to discuss with Mr. President, and the discussion has been very frank and very fruitful.
“The meeting was at our instance because we feel that before we begin to move into the field, to engage the other side and other people, that are also essential to our assignment we need to discuss with the government.
“That was why we had to speak with the President and ask him some few questions; then know what government side is.
“That is in addition to what we received from the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and other security agencies.
“And I can assure you and indeed Nigerians that the committee is more enriched to face the challenges that is ahead of us,” Turaki said.
He declined to divulge details of the progress made by the committee so far, or its one-hour discussions with the President, on the grounds that the panel would not want to jeopardise the success of its assignment.
He refuted reports that Boko Haram leadership was averse to any form of dialogue.
He insisted that Islam, which they profess, espouses and encourages dialogue in human interactions.
The minister further explained that it would not be out of place for a middle course solution to be settled for.
“I think what Imam Abubakar Shekau is saying is not different from what the committee is doing. There is no indication to say that they are not amenable to settlement or dialogue.
“Jama’a people (Boko Haram members) are people who believe that they will live by the teachings of the prophet as enshrined in the provisions of the Qur’an.
“Now, the Qur’an specifically says that sulh (dialogue, negotiation or settlement) has a lot of values, and in fact Muslims are encouraged to enter into dialogue.
“And when we sit down to negotiate it does not mean that everybody will get or must get what he wants. There would be give and take at the end of day,” Turaki stated.
He declined to say when the committee would meet with Shekau, as it prefers secrecy for the time being, but assured that it would now move to the field to visit the hot spots, meet with governors of affected states, traditional rulers, victims (for Victims Support Programme), the clergy, and any other stakeholders deemed important to help find a lasting solution.
Shortly after the committee members left the Villa, Governors Kashim Shettima of Borno State and Ibrahim Geidam of Yobe State, whose domains have been the hotbeds of the terrorists, also met with Jonathan over the situation.
Their presence, against the background of speculation of declaration of emergency rule in their states, raised eyebrows, but Shettima assured reporters that the Boko Haram insurgency was just a temporary eclipse that would surely be overcome.
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