Kaduna bloodbath: The inside story

Posted by admin Kaduna, State News Wednesday, April 27th, 2011

The 21st century in which Arabs fought and won their freedom against tyranny is the one in which the North is fighting against injustice and vote stealing and allocation.”
These were the words of one Aminu (not real name), a northerner and a graduate, who even did his postgraduate studies at Leeds University, in the UK.

Aminu in an interface with newsmen was trying to justify the senseless killings in the north, following the crisis that greeted the announcement of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as President-elect by INEC. Like Aminu, most northerners, especially supporters of the Buhari-led Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), see the latest struggle as an attempt by the north to liberate itself.

But are there no northerners in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? And for those who believe CPC is a Muslim party, are there no Christians in the CPC? Was it possible for Buhari to have become president with the votes from the North alone? Resolving these questions and many others would assist in understanding the reason the North, particularly Kaduna was on fire after the presidential election result.

For those who followed Buhari’s campaigns, especially in the north, the ensuing crisis that even before a winner was declared would not have come to them as a surprise. From the onset, the CPC supporters in the North were made to believe that Buhari was good to win the race, with or without political alliance. And that anything to the contrary, would mean that Buhari was “rigged” out.
But why did the Kaduna State Governor, Mr. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, not act swiftly to nip the crisis in the bud, especially because the signs were there, several weeks before the polls that Kaduna was a crisis waiting to happen?

When the first crisis under the Jonah Jang leadership first broke out in Plateau State, he blamed intelligence report, claiming it misled him. Did the same thing happen to Yakowa? Unlike Jang, Yakowa is no stranger to governance in Kaduna. Although he was not around when the bloody Sharia crisis broke out about a decade ago, he was, however, around when peace initiatives started, as he was appointed the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), in the Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi’s administration, in 2003, in whose tenure the bloody Sharia crisis broke out in 2000.

By 2005, he was made the deputy governor, in the same administration, and remained in that position until 2010, when he was elevated to the position of a governor. In the Makarfi administration, Daily Sun recalls, following the bloody Sharia riots, the administration came up with a special security arrangement, known as Strike Force which is entire strategically located in major flashpoints in the metropolis and the State, and were manned by military personnel. Their duty is to respond swiftly to any crisis situation. The arrangement, Daily Sun further recalls, worked perfectly.

What then happened?
Once Vice President Namadi Sambo took over in 2007, he came up with another special security outfit, known as “Operation Yaki.” One may accuse Sambo of anything, but he certainly did not toy with the security of the state. Of the 11 points agenda of the governor, even if Kaduna residents claim they never saw anything, they would never say the same of “Operation Yaki” activities.

However, Daily Sun investigations revealed that once Sambo became Vice President, the activities of the men of the “Operation Yaki,” began to dwindle, as they were no longer as effective as they used to under Sambo’s government. What could have been responsible for this state of affairs?
Sources within the security outfit confided in Daily Sun that ever since Sambo left, the governor has allegedly cut down drastically, the monthly security budget for the state. Besides, the source further said: “We no longer get our allowance as at when due. Sometimes, we get it four to five days after month’s end. The last one for instance, came nine days after the month end. So, as you rightly observed, we are no longer motivated to do the job. Morale is low, my brother,” the source added.

The source further said that “you all know the man (the governor) that he is a stingy man. But people who are close to him should let him know that you don’t play with the security of the state. Security is one thing and everything about governance. Go out and check our vehicles, most of them are bad. If you notice, during the Presidential election, when we were mobilised to the Vice President’s polling unit, we had to call our men who are supposed to be in charge of other local governments in the southern and northern parts of the state, for back up. This is not supposed to be so. We should have enough within the metropolis to deploy for such operation.

“Do you know that during the crisis, we had to hire buses to convey some policemen on patrol? It is that bad. In case the government does not know, tell them that Kaduna is like Lagos; they should go and find out how security is manned in that state. Therefore, it will be penny-wise, pound-foolish to say you spend so much on security and so, you want to cut cost.
“By the time crisis happens, you will spend 10times, what you should have spent to prevent it, to manage the crisis situation. And this is exactly what we are witnessing in Kaduna now. We have been taken another decade back, from the gains we had made. I hope the authorities are listening,” the source added.
It is not true, ‘Operation Yaki,’ Coordinator fires back

According to the coordinator, who also doubles as Special Adviser to the governor on security, Colonel Dikkson Mamman (rtd), every officer and men of the security outfit, are adequately funded.
He told Daily Sun that “anybody, who tells you anything to the contrary is telling you lies. If you like, go and ask all the commands. We pay everybody monthly and they are well-funded. Don’t allow anybody to tell you lie about the security situation in the state. We are equal to the task.”

And the crisis broke out
The violence started on Sunday night, April 17, 2010, when aggrieved youths expressed their disagreement with the live broadcast of the collation of presidential election results by the INEC chairman and Chief Returning Officer, Prof Attahiru Jega.
The youths went on rampage by setting ablaze properties of members and chieftains of the ruling PDP mostly located in the central and northern parts of the Kaduna metropolis, forcing most of Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa’s cabinet members to seek refuge at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House.

The earliest casualties of Sunday violence through Monday morning were Vice President Sambo, the Emir of Zazzau, Dr. Shehu Idris, defeated PDP House of Representatives candidate for Kaduna North, Shehu Giant and his Kaduna South counterpart, Alhaji Sani Daba, who escaped death by the whiskers. All the above listed personalities, including Daba, had their buildings razed, while some had their vehicles burnt.
Hon. Sani Daba for instance, was said to be at the gate of his house when unknown to the hoodlums came shouting his name, “ina Sani Daba, meaning where is Sani Daba.”

He was said to have immediately replied them in Hausa, saying “ku shiga gidan yanzun nan muka rabu das hi yana ciki, meaning, go inside he has just gone back inside the house not quite long.” Once the hoodlums gained entry into the house, he was said to have quickly escaped leaving the entire building, which was razed by the rampaging youths.

Back in southern Kaduna, the CPC Kaduna deputy governorship candidate Mr. Joshua Danladi Ephrem, also had his house burnt in his hometown, in Angwan Rimi Village in Zangon Kattaf Local Government. However, Daily Sun gathered that his own house was burnt on the night of the day of the election.
Garba Sule Dauda, a relation of Alhaji Sani Dauda of ASD Motors and Chairman of Peugeot Automobile Nigeria, (PAN), had his house burnt when he was away with his family. The house is situated at number DF 6 Samaru Hausa Street, United Quarters, Kakuri GRA.

Dauda said he had left the house for fear of being attacked, only to be told that his residence had been set ablaze with his properties, but said no life was lost.

Survivors tell their stories
The husband of 23-year-old Khadijat Kabiru, who got married six months ago was not that lucky, as a bullet allegedly from a sniper in a nearby story building hit him in the chest and snuffed life out of him as he was struggling to rescue a victim, who was shot on Royal Road, at Ungwan Muazu on the bloody Monday morning. When Daily Sun visited her father in-law’s house where she is taking refuge, about 100 metres from their burnt house where her husband was killed, Khadijat said, her husband Kabiru Ahmed an artisan from Nasarrawa State, was called back home that morning when she heard of the violence in some parts of the town.

She said her late husband made two successful trips taking out two small fridges to a safe place when houses on the street were being attacked and set ablaze by suspected groups from neighbouring Kabala West, a few metres from Happy Night Hotel’s, where bomb exploded on the night of the presidential election.

“He was able to take one of the many victims that were shot from the storey building to a nearby hospital when a bullet caught him in the chest as he lifts the second victim from the floor and he died instantly.
“My husband is neither a thug nor among those who went on rampage because of election result. He died trying to save the lives of those he did not even know, leaving me a young hopeless widow behind”, she said sobbing.

The man responsible for the shooting in the area was later picked up by soldiers after he had killed well over dozens of unarmed and unsuspected passers-by whom might have crossed all the dangerous hurdles on their way, to get to the area, thinking they were safe near home. An elderly man who had succeeded in appeasing irate youths in the area to go back to their houses was said to have been later shot from the security helicopter that hovered around the area, killing him instantly. This angered most of the youths in the area, who eventually took to the streets and killed two unsuspecting policemen and set them ablaze.

A few survivors of Maraban Rido massacre, a village near Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, KRPC, told Daily Sun from their hospital beds that, they were rounded up by hoodlums most of whom were their “cordial friends” and started killing and maiming them. “They burnt our houses, including that of the District Head situated behind a mosque that was also torched.” Many of the victims interviewed said they were initially relieved when the police arrived at the instance of Yusuf Hamisu Mairago, the defeated PDP Kaduna Central senatorial candidate. But that their hopes were dashed when the policemen watched helplessly how their houses were set ablaze simultaneously and were even prevented from at least salvaging their properties.

“When we insisted that if they cannot prevent the mayhem at least they should allow us to do it ourselves, some of the policemen shouted at us not to disturb them that we should choose between saving our lives and our properties.“We had to also plead for the police to give us and our family members, including a few that died, an escort to accompany us to camp at KRPC for two days where the Chairman of NUPENG, Alhaji Gambo Tuge assisted us with relief materials and organized our transfer to a camp at Maraban Jos where over 2,000 refugees were camped.”

A 14-year-old Adamu, who was receiving treatment from a bullet wound on his stomach said he was coming from a nearby shop when he saw people shouting and scampering for safety when he was shot.
The spill-over to the southern part. By Monday night, the crisis spread to the Southern part of the state, notably, Kafanchan and Zonkwa. Kafachan is about two and a half hour drive from Kaduna, while Zonkwa is about two hours from the capital. Reports indicate that the bloody crisis in Kafanchan and Zonkwa, left many dead and properties with millions of Naira destroyed.

In a phone interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa service monitored on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, the Emir of Jema’a, Alhaji Isa Muhammadu noted that there were security agents in the area but that they were overwhelmed and could not do much to stop the violence. He said it was only the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Kafanchan that was with him during the crisis, and lamented that the security personnel were incapacitated. The emir said that the instigators were so much that even if they were blocked from one end of the town, they would regroup and start attacking from the other end.

He said they could not sleep since 9pm of Monday because the killings and burning of properties were so frightening and gave them nightmare. The Special Adviser to the Governor on Religious Matters, Rev. John Joseph Hayab, however told the BBC that the state government was not informed that security agents were overwhelmed in the southern part of the state. He said it was imperative for the government to deploy security agents in the area to forestall peace and not to inflame the already bad situation.

Hayab was, however, added that order was restored in Zonkwa before the Kafanchan crisis erupted and blamed the unfortunate situation on those who said, spread rumours unnecessarily
In another phone interview with the BBC on the same day, a resident of Zonkwa, Malam Hamza Gambo, who was at the Zonkwa Police Station with hundreds of other displaced persons, said they were in a very critical condition and needed assistance urgently.

He said there was heavy fighting between Christians and Muslims from 9pm on Monday until about 11am Tuesday.
According to him, crisis started from heated disagreement over the result of the presidential election which he claimed later took a different dimension when someone was slaughtered.
When contacted on the matter that Tuesday, the state Commissioner of Information, Saidu Adamu, said the “governor just addressed the Press on the issue. The combined team of soldiers/police was dispatched to contain the problem. Things are being controlled.”

However, a medical personnel, in Kafachan, who does not want his name in print, was the first to alert Daily Sun in the early hours of Tuesday, April 19, around 1am that Kafachan was on “fire.”
According to the medical personnel, Muslims began to regroup “at that ungodly hour, and there was call to prayer. As I speak to you, I am living my place now, but I don’t even know where I am heading to.”
By Wednesday, April 20, after arson in the town, the Medical personnel again had this to say “Kafachan was calm from last night to this morning, but there are fears of reprisal killings of Muslims by Christians in the adjacent villages away from Kafachan main town where security forces are stationed.

“Incalculable losses were made during the mayhem, for I saw that many houses, shops and cars close to the Kafachan General Hospital were burnt. It is reported that the whole market was razed, but I have not gone towards that area. People are moving freely under the guide and protection of security agents, but there is still a lot of anxiety and panic. Nonetheless, last night was peaceful and calm.”

Zonkwa, the worst hit
Zonkwa, is also in southern Kaduna, and it is the worst hit in the area. Over 100 lives were lost, while 300 vehicles and about 2,000 houses were said to have been burnt and leveled with hand grenades by assailants who allegedly came in a train and trucks from unknown places.

One of the survivors at the refugee camp, located at the Muslim Hajj camp in Mando who narrated their ordeal said he managed to escape death, despite various gun shot wounds. Incidentally, he was the first person whose car was burnt down when the violence erupted in the area on Monday.
The 42-year-old victim who gave his name as Yakubu Uba, a transporter and the son of the Sarkin Hausawa in the area said his great grand parents came from Katsina and settled in Zonkwa where he was born and brought up.

His words: “I was coming from Kafanchan hospital that Monday when I saw people running towards me. We were later told that it was a false alarm so I took off to Zonkwa where we met over 30 check points between Matsirga and Madakiya mounted by youths who are searching for Hausa/Fulaßni to eliminate. It was the Bajjus in the car that saved our lives and we managed to reach Zonkwa to meet the worst killings that had ever happened in the history of that area.

“The killings started around Eid praying ground when a truck load of yam in hot pursuit by some youths abandoned the truck and ran away, leaving the yam, which was eventually destroyed and the vehicle vandalized. Vehicles and houses around UBA bank area were also destroyed, and it escalated to destruction of shops shooting, while innocent people going about their normal activities were macheted.
“ No help came to us even when a call was placed to DPO and the Agwan Bajju, Mr. Nuhu Bature who continued to tell us to stay put even when the killings became so bad and unbearable.

“We were relieved when we saw lights of vehicles and train coming in the night thinking that they were security personnel coming to our aid, but they turned out to be a group of well armed people with tear gas and hand grenades.
“The group led by two Commanders, by name Shekare and Cindo whom we know in town very well, in fact one of them owns a block industry near Zonkwa Bridge. They were the ones that ordered the shooting of over 50 people after sorting out women and children.
“The shooting only stopped when they have exhausted their ammunitions, which gave us the opportunity to run into hiding before the military finally came to our rescue and assembled us at the Police station in Zonkwa.

“The governor who came in on Tuesday, a day after the riot, did not even care to see us. He went straight to the Agwan Bajjus’ palace, had a meeting with him and left, same with the Chief of Army Staff too.
“Up till today, (Sunday, April 24, 2010) no government official has visited us even at the refugee camp, except for an aid to Vice President Namadi Sambo’s wife who sent some relief materials to us last Sunday,” Yakubu Uba said.

Groups accuse governor of insensitivity
The Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria (SCSN) and the Kaduna Council of Ulamas have said that the Kaduna state governor, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, should be held responsible for the recent post-election crisis in the state, which claimed hundreds of lives.
The two groups in conjunction with the Network for Justice, at a joint meeting in Kaduna, last Monday insisted that about 578 persons were allegedly killed in Zonkwa, Kafanchan and Marabar Rido in Chikun local government, all in the Southern part of the State, adding that so far about 40,000 persons have been displaced, with several others still missing.

In a communiqué issued at the end of its meeting, a copy of which was made available to newsmen, the groups further urged the government to probe, what it called “genocide” against Muslims, with a warning that, “if the coming gubernatorial election is not free and fair, there are tendencies of another uprising.”
The communiqué, which was read by Muhammad Amin Suleiman of the Network for Justice, reads in part: “we are not happy with the way the Kaduna state government handled the recent post-election crisis that engulfed the state because the delay in sending security agents to the warring areas was what worsened the situation.

“When the crisis erupted on Sunday night, all distress calls to the authorities concerned, by Emirs, chiefs and other opinion leaders were not honoured by the state Governor and his officials.
“This act of neglect by the state government facilitated the successful implementation of what appeared to be a planned genocide against some people in Zonkwa, Marabar Rido, Sabon Gida, Sabon tasha, Gonin Gora, Matsirga and Unguwan Rimi in Kafanchan, all in southern Kaduna where in some places not even a single soul or child was spared.

“Some of the victims in Kaduna and Zaria were killed in their homes by police sniper shots from a surveillance helicopter.“It is very unfortunate that while curfew was imposed on Kaduna town and in the northern part of the state, the southern part was left to freely to execute this heinous act of ethnic cleansing.”
Last Line. It is only time that will tell, if after today’s election, another skirmish will not be recorded in some parts of the town.

-Sunwp_posts

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Posted by admin on Apr 27 2011. Filed under Kaduna, State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry