You have constitutional duty to stop Southern Kaduna genocide: HURIWA to Buhari

A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Monday, said the unending bloodbath and chaos in Kaduna State, North-West Nigeria, was obvious signs of descent into anarchy and a sign that there was an official genocide backed by some reactionary elements embedded in governments at different levels.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said security agents, as well as the Federal Government led by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Kaduna State Government under Governor Nasir el-Rufai, must rise up quickly and stop the unending carnage in Kaduna.

The group’s warning came amid fresh raid by gunmen suspected to be Fulani militia at Agban Kagoro, Kaura Local Government Area of the state on Sunday which claimed no fewer than 15 lives while scores were injured.

HURIWA said the 24-hour curfew imposed by el-Rufai on Jema’a and Kaura was not enough as the attacks on Southern Kaduna have intensified in the last few months with many casualties.

The group carpeted the Governor of Kaduns State for not holding any of the attackers responsible for their crimes against humanity and hinted that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands was an option should the Nigerian government continue to pamper the armed Fulani herdsmen.

The group said it was unfortunate that Kaduna has become a killing field for bandits and terrorists who operate while security agents allegedly look away.

The state government detailed a territory under siege in its novel annual security report 2020, the el-Rufai government said 937 persons died that year while 1,972 others were kidnapped. It also said 3,348 residents were kidnapped in 2021, and 1,192 deaths recorded, which is 27.21 per cent higher than the number killed in 2020.

Onwubiko said in his statement: “The fresh killings on Sunday in Kaura LGA by rampaging terrorists pampered by security agents is worrisome, heinous, condemnable and despicable.

“It is more worrisome because the military has a heavy presence in Kaduna with no fewer than six military formations in the city. The military formations include Jaji Military Cantonment; 1 Mech. Division Headquarters, Nigerian Army, Kaduna; New Barracks, otherwise known as ‘Kotoko’ Barracks; Old Site of the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna; Kalanpazi Barracks (Artillery Regiment) and the Nigerian Air Force Base.

“The recurring and unending horrific crimes committed in Kaduna under the watch of numerous security agents is indicting for the service chiefs. The attacks also justify the comments of Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, on December 25, 2021, that Buhari from Katsina, Northern Nigeria and his government must move quickly “before Arewa, our beloved Arewa, descends into Arewanistan!” Indeed, Kaduna and the entire northern Nigeria is becoming another gulag of bloodbath like Afghanistan because Christians are targeted and the worst hit by the killings so far.

“The continuous killings of Christians and minority Northerners in Southern Kaduna must be stopped forthwith. The service chiefs must demonstrate willingness to end the crimes against humanity committed under their nose in Kaduna being a military fortress.

“World leaders must also lend their voices against the genocide by Fulani terrorists against Southern Kaduna Christians while el-Rufai should revive efforts for a North-West regional network along the lines of the South-West’s Amotekun for adequate community policing to be achieved as the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army and other security agents have blatantly failed.”