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Nigerian Army Stops At Nothing To Arrest Cattle Killers In Our Community But Can’t Find Murderers Of 33 Residents, Who Beheaded 5-Year-Old Boy —Kaduna Bishop

FILE
April 17, 2023

The cleric said the army constantly ransacks their communities to apprehend those responsible for killing cattle but failed to show the same zeal in apprehending people responsible for the massacre of 33 residents.

Bishop Jacob Kwashi, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna state, has accused the Nigerian Army of bias.

The cleric said the army constantly ransacks their communities to apprehend those responsible for killing cattle but failed to show the same zeal in apprehending people responsible for the massacre of 33 residents.

The bishop said this while speaking to journalists on Sunday, April 16 at the mass burial of 33 persons killed during an attack on Runji Village in the Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of the state.

The CAN chairman stated that the state and federal governments are aware of what needs to be done to stop the killings. He, therefore, urged them to take action.

He said, “We will not run away from our land. Even if they come tonight after us and we are killed, there will be some people who will talk and there will be the young who will rise again.

“So, we ask that the government of Kaduna state, the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, they should do the needful.

“They know what they should do to stop this evil. They know it. I have said it and let me repeat myself. If by mistake one cow is killed by any of the community here, the number of military troops that will enter and ransack the community and look for those to arrest because one cow has been killed… and now we have 33 corpses and a young boy of five years who has been beheaded. What has that young boy done to these evil people.''

An international non-governmental organisation, Amnesty International earlier said that terrorists operating in Kaduna State killed over 100 people in Southern Kaduna between December 2022 and April 2023.

According to Amnesty International, gunmen killed at least 38 people in Southern Kaduna in December 2022, 25 people in March 2023, and no fewer than 47 people have been killed in April 2023.

On Sunday, the global human rights group said on its Twitter handle, “Nigerian authorities must end the frequent deadly attacks on southern Kaduna. From December 2022 to date gunmen killed over 100 people in southern Kaduna.”

The organisation said the latest of such ugly incidents is the attack and killing by gunmen on Saturday night at the Sankwab community of the Atyap Chiefdom in the Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of the state.

Some gunmen on Saturday night invaded Sankwab community, killing no fewer than 20 villagers, while several houses were razed.

It was reported that the gunmen suspected to be Fulani militia stormed the community at around 10.00 pm on Saturday, shooting indiscriminately at anything in sight, during which they killed at least 20 people.