Terrorists, communal clashes claim 214 lives in three months, 746 people kidnapped – Kaduna Govt confirms

Kaduna Government has stated that over 214 persons were killed due to violent attacks by terrorists, communal clashes and reprisals across the state from January to March, this year.

Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, disclosed this while presenting the security report of the first quarter 2023 to the State Security Council, Wednesday.

Aruwan explained that the 214 killed comprised 196 males, 14 females and four minors, while 746 citizens were kidnapped during the period under review.

He also said that Kaduna Central Senatorial District topped the list of the hardest hit areas in the state with 115 deaths.

Receiving the report, Governor Nasir El-Rufai appealed to the Federal Government to escalate security operations across the seven frontline states of the North-West and Niger State within the coming weeks, adding that the state governments alone were unable to handle the problem.

The operation, the governor noted, would prevent the creation of a dangerous lull for criminal outlaws to exploit, especially during the period of transition from one administration to another.

“We appeal for an escalation of security operations over the next 39 days remaining to the end of the tenure of this administration and beyond so that the change of baton at the federal level does not result in a dangerous law that criminal outlaws can exploit,” El-Rufai said.

“There is every reason to intensify and sustain simultaneous ground and air kinetic actions across the seven frontline states of the North-West region and Niger states.”

He also reiterated the commitment of the Kaduna State Government in improving security as well as securing the lives and properties of residents of the state.

It would be recalled that only last Monday, human rights watchdog, the Amnesty International decried the rate of recent killings in Southern Kaduna, where it alleged that over 100 people have lost their lives at the hands of rampaging terrorists.

The organisation, Monday, expressed worry over the killings also largely blame on suspected Fulani herdsmen.

Amnesty further added that over 100 people have been killed in Southern Kaduna in a space of six months by terrorists.

This is also as it indicted both the Federal and Kaduna State governments for failing ‘both end the violence or bring the perpetrators to justice.’

According to Amnesty, gunmen have laid siege to Southern Kaduna territories, attacking rural communities frequently ‘and always deadly.’

The organisation added that from December 2022 to April this year ‘gunmen killed over 100 people in southern Kaduna,’ just as it chronicled the attacks in the region by terrorists on the communities without intervention or help from the Army or other security operatives.

With barely weeks to the end of his second and last term in office, the Kaduna Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai is also battling resurgence of kidnappings by armed groups in the metropolis, even as some in the state accuse him of being an accomplice in the unrest through his tacit support for extremist groups.

The insecurity had abated in the period leading up to the 2023 General Elections in February and March 11, this year, as violent attacks in communities and kidnappings for ransom of individuals, including students, subsided.

However, with the conclusion of the elections, the situation in the state has resumed to the point it was prior polls.

“1. Attacks by gunmen on rural communities of southern #Kaduna are increasingly becoming frequent and are always deadly. 

“2. Nigerian authorities have failed to both end the violence or bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Southern Kaduna:

Dec. 2022: Gunmen killed 38

Mar. 2023: Gunmen killed 15

Mar. 2023: Gunmen killed 10

Apr. 2023: Students abducted 10

Apr. 2023: Gunmen killed 8

Apr. 2023: Gunmen killed 29

“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 latest is Saturday night when gunmen invaded the Sankwab community of the Atyap Chiefdom of Zango-Kataf LGA.,” Amnesty said.

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