The head of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna state’s Zangon Kataf Local Government Area, Bishop Jacob Kwashi, has charged the Nigerian Army with bias.
The cleric claimed that although the army frequently ransacked their towns to capture individuals guilty for slaughtering animals, it lacked the same fervor when it came to capturing those responsible for the massacre of 33 locals.
The bishop made this statement while addressing the media on April 16 at the mass burial of 33 people who had died in an attack on Runji Village in the state’s Zangon Kataf Local Government Area.
According to the CAN chairman, both the state and federal governments are aware of the steps that must be taken to put an end to the killings. He therefore exhorted them to act.
He said, “We will not run away from our land. Even if they come tonight after us and we are killed, there will be some people who will talk and there will be the young who will rise again.
“So, we ask that the government of Kaduna state, the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, they should do the needful.
“They know what they should do to stop this evil. They know it. I have said it and let me repeat myself. If by mistake one cow is killed by any of the community here, the number of military troops that will enter and ransack the community and look for those to arrest because one cow has been killed… and now we have 33 corpses and a young boy of five years who has been beheaded. What has that young boy done to these evil people.”
An international non-governmental organisation, Amnesty International earlier said that terrorists operating in Kaduna State killed over 100 people in Southern Kaduna between December 2022 and April 2023.
According to Amnesty International, gunmen killed at least 38 people in Southern Kaduna in December 2022, 25 people in March 2023, and no fewer than 47 people have been killed in April 2023.
On Sunday, the global human rights group said on its Twitter handle, “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 organisation said the latest of such ugly incidents is the attack and killing by gunmen on Saturday night at the Sankwab community of the Atyap Chiefdom in the Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of the state.
Some gunmen on Saturday night invaded Sankwab community, killing no fewer than 20 villagers, while several houses were razed.
It was reported that the gunmen suspected to be Fulani militia stormed the community at around 10.00 pm on Monday, shooting indiscriminately at anything in sight, during which they killed at least 20 people.
