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https://www.theepochtimes.com/fulan...-unarmed-farmers-in-kaduna-state_3933630.html
KADUNA – Having mowed down large swaths of ripe crops in the predawn of Aug. 3, armed assailants stormed into four villages in Southern Kaduna state, central Nigeria, killing 22 and burning down 134 houses, according to Kaduna State Police.
Kaduna State shares a border with Plateau State to its east. The area inhabited by the Chawai Chiefdom is approximately 140 miles east of Kaduna, the capital city of Kaduna state.
“These attacks are likely a spillover of the violence from neighboring Bassa LGA [Local Government Area] of Plateau state,” Kaduna State Police Command Spokesman (ASP) Mohammed Jalige told The Epoch Times in Kaduna Tuesday afternoon.
“This is sad. I have asked my counterpart in Plateau state to furnish me with what happened in Bassa LGA to help us reach an understanding of what happened in Chawai, in this part of Kaduna state. But our men are on ground and the situation is now under control,” he said.
“These attacks in both Kaduna and Plateau State are not random, nor are the fresh targets of Fulani militants,” said Kyle Abts, co-founder of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON).
“Each village has been attacked in recent weeks, months and years. The security forces and government have to know that this is a systematic onslaught by these marauders who are endeavoring to destroy not only homes, communities and farmlands, but most importantly lives,” wrote Abts in a message to The Epoch Times.
The Irigwe people of Miango District, Bassa LGA of Plateau state, which shares a hilly border with Chawai Chiefdom, suffered a series of deadly attacks in the past three days, after several hectares of their farmlands were destroyed by those alleged in the Nigerian media to be armed herdsmen.
The President of Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU), Hon. Jonathan Asake—a former member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives—who leads the umbrella body of the 67 ethnic nationalities of Southern Kaduna, told The Epoch Times in an exclusive chat on the afternoon of Aug. 3, that 27 persons were killed, hundreds of homes burnt, and scores of hectares of farms bearing different types of grains and root crops destroyed by the attackers last night.
“SOKAPU has continuously insisted that there is an ongoing genocide in Southern Kaduna targeted at the indigenous Christians population and the aim is to force or intimidate us to abandon our faith or leave our ancestral lands for the armed herdsmen,” he said.
“Some of the attacked villages, like Kigam and Unguwan Magaji have been attacked at least three times in the past six years with mass graves where scores were buried standing as a testimony of what we are saying. Not a single church or school is left standing. Not a single herdsman has been apprehended all these years,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that while Kaduna State government and the Federal Government is playing blind to it, the larger world, especially the western media do not believe that our lives are worth any news,” he lamented…
KADUNA – Having mowed down large swaths of ripe crops in the predawn of Aug. 3, armed assailants stormed into four villages in Southern Kaduna state, central Nigeria, killing 22 and burning down 134 houses, according to Kaduna State Police.
Kaduna State shares a border with Plateau State to its east. The area inhabited by the Chawai Chiefdom is approximately 140 miles east of Kaduna, the capital city of Kaduna state.
“These attacks are likely a spillover of the violence from neighboring Bassa LGA [Local Government Area] of Plateau state,” Kaduna State Police Command Spokesman (ASP) Mohammed Jalige told The Epoch Times in Kaduna Tuesday afternoon.
“This is sad. I have asked my counterpart in Plateau state to furnish me with what happened in Bassa LGA to help us reach an understanding of what happened in Chawai, in this part of Kaduna state. But our men are on ground and the situation is now under control,” he said.
“These attacks in both Kaduna and Plateau State are not random, nor are the fresh targets of Fulani militants,” said Kyle Abts, co-founder of the International Committee on Nigeria (ICON).
“Each village has been attacked in recent weeks, months and years. The security forces and government have to know that this is a systematic onslaught by these marauders who are endeavoring to destroy not only homes, communities and farmlands, but most importantly lives,” wrote Abts in a message to The Epoch Times.
The Irigwe people of Miango District, Bassa LGA of Plateau state, which shares a hilly border with Chawai Chiefdom, suffered a series of deadly attacks in the past three days, after several hectares of their farmlands were destroyed by those alleged in the Nigerian media to be armed herdsmen.
The President of Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU), Hon. Jonathan Asake—a former member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives—who leads the umbrella body of the 67 ethnic nationalities of Southern Kaduna, told The Epoch Times in an exclusive chat on the afternoon of Aug. 3, that 27 persons were killed, hundreds of homes burnt, and scores of hectares of farms bearing different types of grains and root crops destroyed by the attackers last night.
“SOKAPU has continuously insisted that there is an ongoing genocide in Southern Kaduna targeted at the indigenous Christians population and the aim is to force or intimidate us to abandon our faith or leave our ancestral lands for the armed herdsmen,” he said.
“Some of the attacked villages, like Kigam and Unguwan Magaji have been attacked at least three times in the past six years with mass graves where scores were buried standing as a testimony of what we are saying. Not a single church or school is left standing. Not a single herdsman has been apprehended all these years,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that while Kaduna State government and the Federal Government is playing blind to it, the larger world, especially the western media do not believe that our lives are worth any news,” he lamented…
