Police parade 17 Fulani herdsmen, natives of Southern Kaduna over homicide

The Police, Thursday, paraded seventeen (17) people suspected to have committed “culpable homicide and disturbance of peace in Southern Kaduna.”


The Kaduna state Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai who made this known through his twitter handle also said that the police gave the suspects to be Fulani herdsmen and natives of Southern Kaduna. Also, the Nigeria police spokesman, Jimoh Moshood, confirmed the arrest of the 17 suspects on Thursday in Abuja when he presented the suspects before journalists. He said that 29 assorted firearms were recovered from the suspects. Recall that several persons have been killed in Southern Kaduna while many have fled their homes in fear of being killed. The death toll have been variously put between 700 and above so far.


Many have condemned the killings and called on both the state Government and the Federal government to bring the perpetrators of the heinous crimes to book. In December last year, Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna state had said that his government traced some “violent, aggrieved Fulanis” supposed to be the killers in the state to their countries and “paid them to stop the killings of Southern Kaduna natives and the destruction of their communities” saying that the renewed violence is carried out by bandits. El-Rufai had made this known while fielding questions from some select Journalists in his office in Kaduna.


However, the action of the state government in paying the herdsmen did not see the killings abate afterwards but instead, seemed to have aggravated it. Hence, the sought for a lasting solution to the crisis. The Presidency however, had in response to tackling the crisis, said concrete efforts were been made to arrest the situation not only in Southern Kaduna but in other parts of the country generally.


The Senior Special Assistant, SSA, to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu had given the assurance while on Channels TV programme late last month. He had said, “The Government has intensified a lot of activities. As we speak now, there are ongoing efforts to establish two military battalions: one in Karsha and one in Zango-Kataf, and there is military surveillance undertaken by the air force.” “The army has moved and Mobile Police squadrons have been put in place. So, a lot of effort is being made. The humanitarian situation is also being looked at. The Federal Government, through NEMA, is working with Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency in order to bring relief to displaced persons.”


Also, The National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Rev (Dr) Felix Omobude had equally made known the mind of Christians on the killings in Southern Kaduna. He had said that, although Christians were not scared of fighting back, “we do know that it is the primary responsibility of every government to secure the lives of the people.” However, as the efforts at bringing the suspects in the crime to justice, the 17 persons already arrested in connection with the killings put paid the assurance by both the state and federal government in bringing the culprits to book. According to Governor El-Rufai, “The @PoliceNG PRO also stated that other Suspects are currently under Investigation and all will be arraigned in Court.”