Amnesty Int’l decries ‘frequent’ killings in Southern Kaduna by terrorists, as 100 killed in five months

Human rights watchdog, the Amnesty International in Nigeria has 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.