There was palpable anger in southern Kaduna after a group led by the President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), Dr. Ephraim Goje, and another, led by Alh. Ahmadu Suleiman, Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, Kaduna State chapter, agreed to a ‘ceasefire’ between the people of southern Kaduna and Fulani herdsmen residents. The ‘deal’ was brokered by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP), Michael Zuokumor, the Chairman, Peace and Security Committee raised by the Inspector General of Police (IGP), in Kaduna on Tuesday.
This came just as southern Kaduna people said they had compiled attacks on their villages by herdsmen for the International Criminal Court (ICC) attention while the Fulani in the area said they had also been targets of violence by southern Kaduna farmers.
“The main characteristic of the on-going assaults on our communities is that they are carefully planned, organised and executed with heartless viciousness and on incremental basis. Between 1981 and 2010, there were just 16 incidences of such attacks. However, between 2011 and 2014, over a period of four years, 37 such attacks have been launched against our hospitable, accommodating, peaceful and law abiding communities by Fulani herdsmen. These planned, systematic and coordinated attacks have claimed the lives of over 4,000 innocent southern Kaduna people”, a coalition of seven groups representing southern Kaduna, led by a former Kaduna State Commissioner of Justice, Zakari Sokfa, said in Kaduna on Wednesday, in their apparent rejection of the `ceasefire’.
Three Moroa communities in Bondong District, Kaura Local Government Area (LGA) of Kaduna State were attacked by what the villagers said were Fulani gunmen. Not less that 149 lives were lost and estimated 300 homes burnt, according to the villagers.
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| Herdsmen… as death merchants |
The coalition said the deal was a charade, and that it lacked credibility since it had no endorsement of their chiefs and community leaders.
According to them, the SOKAPU President had no authority to enter into an agreement with the Fulani on his own terms, without the congress or even the Exco of SOKAPU agreeing on what to table, and how.
The National Youth leader of SOKAPU, Sabastine Luka, who said he was speaking on behalf of southern Kaduna youths, condemned the agreement and was signatory to the press statement read by Sokfa on behalf of the coalition.
But DIG Zuokumor dismissed the protest as the handiwork of those who benefit from violence. He said the affected communities were happy with the peace agreement.
In the meantime, Mr. Nuhu Waney, the coordinator of the camp holding about 2,000 Mora refugees from Tekum, Ma Gata and Sankwai, the three communities attacked by suspected herdsmen, last month, in Bondong district, told newsmen that Fulani herdsmen may attack the district again. He said: “As I speak to you, scores of armed Fulani men have entered Bondong with plenty cows. Those who saw them said they were carrying weapons and hiding among their cattle. Soldiers have been called in, and our people have fled.
“We at home are shocked and angry that some people sitting in the comfort of their offices in Kaduna would concoct a so-called peace agreement with the Fulani.
“We do not know the content of the agreement, and we were not informed. In any case, we are not at war with the Fulani. Let the Fulani come and tell us what is their grouse with us, and then we will know. What kind of peace agreement will you sign with someone who would come into your home in the night, kill your wife and children and burn you alive and you have no idea of any wrong you have done to him?
“Do they want us to sign that we have given them our lands, then we move so that they come and take over?
“We the affected villages believe that the Fulani should be the ones to sign agreement with government promising not to attack us again.
“We are unhappy with this kind of political tricks while we are still under the fire of the Fulani.
“Right now, we are waiting for the soldiers who have gone to engage the Fulani to come out and tell us what is going on”.
“Right now, we are waiting for the soldiers who have gone to engage the Fulani to come out and tell us what is going on”.
‘Playing politics’
Waney spoke about 24 hours after the ‘ceasefire’ deal, and the same day the coalition of seven southern Kaduna groups, among them, Forum of All the Tribal Associations of Southern Kaduna, said the agreement lacked credibility.
Speaking at a press conference, the convener of the coalition, Sokfa, said Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero has not demonstrated any interest at ending the violence against the people of southern Kaduna by alleged Fulani gunmen. The convener said the governor was hiding under the cover of a hurriedly convened peace deal by a police boss, to make it look as if he was concerned. The group also condemned what it said was the tendency of Kaduna State government to take the tragedy of the situation into politics.
Said Sokfa: “I want to make it very clear. The southern Kaduna people are not the only ones to go to the ICC or other international fora to seek justice. Actually, the African Union, AU, charter encourages us to do that. And the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is such that does not discourage us from going to the ICC. What we are saying is that government should be enlightened enough to understand that there are some issues you can’t play politics with. And this is one of them. The agreement, said to have been signed by the Fulani and our people, is a ruse, and, in as much as we desire peace, we don’t see it as sincere and genuine as our bonafide traditional rulers and community leaders were not in attendance”.
Also speaking at the press conference, Glorial Ballasom, the leader of the Southern Kaduna Lawyers Forum, said: “Many times when issues like taking someone to the ICC comes up, people wonder if the ICC is not in this world. But it is not a bid deal getting to the ICC. And for anyone to think that we are issuing empty threats on the ICC amounts to that person joking with our resolve. If after a while, we discover that the state government, or outside authorities are not taking our plight seriously, we shall take our complaints to any international court in the world, and ensure that we get the justice that we deserve. So, the issue of ICC at the Hague is not a threat, it is an avenue, it is just another option we hope to take, and we are working on it”.
On his part, Dr. Bonnat Zwahu, speaking on behalf of Southern Kaduna Development Association, said that any Fulani that is signatory to any agreement would mean that he was in the know of the massacre of the people of southern Kaduna. He said that such a person should be arrested and made to face justice.
‘People against peace’
But DIG Zuokumor, in a chat with newsmen, however, dismissed the anger over the ‘ceasefire’. He said, “I am not surprised that there are some people against peace in southern Kaduna. These are the people that benefit from the violence. If not so, why should anyone say that he does not a peace agreement? The good thing is that I saw both farmers and Fulani from southern Kaduna looking very happy about the agreement. I thank the Inspector General of Police for this initiatve. It is working wonders in Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba and Plateau states. And it will work here too”.
(Vanguard)
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What is d content of this so called peace deal?
ReplyDeleteI am happy all these things are happening now at least they should feel a little bit of what d Igbos felt during d civil war. These middle belt people in conjuction with d hausa/fulani people massacred the easterners like chicks, now they've been made to turn against themselves, its a welcome development.
This is Amadioha at work.
Seems like they have run out of igbos to massacre. What court? That same court will first have to try all of them for igbo genocide over the last 50 years. Be careful when you seek justice with blood soiled hands.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous April 13, 2014 at 8:05 AM. How Myopic of You to think this way. An eye for an eye and the whole world would soon go blind. Pray for peace and not vengance.
ReplyDeleteCattle rearers should stop roaming arround the country with cattles on our roads and farm lands, residence etc. It is a violation of human right, how could cattles be led into peoples farm for destruction why won't they fight. Is it not mardness, uncivilised country, the so called president and governors opened their eyes for such to be going on year in year out and they want peace to reign.
ReplyDelete