Nigerians and political parties condemned the latest killings in Kaduna State yesterday.
Their reactions came as the state government confirmed that bandits killed 38 people in Idasu, Giwa local government area, in a series of attacks.
Nine victims have yet to be identified, despite the fact that 29 have been identified as of the time of this report.
“Following the report of attacks by bandits across villages in Idasu, Giwa LGA, contained in an earlier update, security agencies have confirmed to the Kaduna State government that 38 people were killed across the locations attacked,” the commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said in a statement yesterday.
“As of this update, twenty-nine of the victims have been identified, with nine remaining unidentified. The following are the 29 people who have been identified: As of the time of this update, 29 of the victims have been identified, with nine still unidentified. Rabi’u Wada, Salisu Boka, Alhaji Nura Nuhu, Alh Bashari Sabiu, Alhaji Lawal Dahiru, Abbas Saidu, Inusa Kano, Malam Lawal Nagargari, Malam Aminu, Lawal Maigyad, Alhaji Mustapha, Lawal Aliyu, and Sale Makeri are among the 29 people identified.
Sani Lawal, Auwal Umar, Jamilu Hassan, Badamasi Mukhtar, Malam Jibril, Lawal Tsawa, Sule Hamisu, Sadi Bala, Kabiru Gesha, Abubakar Sanusi, Saiph Alh Abdu, Haruna Musa, Lawal Hudu, Malam Shuaibu Habibu, Malam Yahaya Habibu, and Abubakar Yusuf were among those More information will be released as it becomes available.”
“As of the time of this update,” Aruwan said, “bandits attacked Kauran Fawa, Marke, and Riheya villages in Idasu, Giwa LGA.” Houses, trucks, and cars, as well as agricultural produce from various farms, were also set ablaze.”
Governor Nasir El-Rufai, according to Aruwan, was saddened by the security reports and sent condolences to the families of the victims of the brutal attacks while praying for their souls to rest in peace.
“In the meantime, security agencies have maintained patrols in the general area,” the governor said, commiserating with the affected communities and ordering the Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency to conduct an urgent assessment of the area in order to provide relief.
Brig. Gen. John Sura (rtd), a governorship candidate for the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State, called on the federal and state governments to establish special courts to try suspected terrorists and bandits operating in various parts of Nigeria.
Sura argued in a weekend interview with newsmen in Jos that those who take lives should be made to pay the ultimate price for their actions. He went on to say that no one or group should be treated as if they were above the law.
ADVERTISEMENT
Bandits and terrorists should not be allowed to operate in any part of the country, according to Sura.
However, the gubernatorial candidate emphasized that those charged with protecting lives and property should carry out their constitutional responsibilities.
“To serve as a deterrent to others planning to make life difficult for law-abiding Nigerians in the country, terrorists and bandits should be sentenced to death and made to face the wrath of the law of the land.”
He advised state governors not to be hesitant to sign death sentences for criminals sentenced to death by competent courts.
Sura also called for the strengthening of security intelligence in all parts of the country so that those responsible for security lapses in states are held accountable.
“If we don’t do that, Nigeria is doomed to fail.”
Sura bemoaned the fact that the security situation has deteriorated to the point where leadership has failed.
“Leaders must stand with their people in good times and bad times or else they are not worthy to be called leaders,” Sura stressed, adding that Nigerian leaders must begin to speak out against systemic wrongdoings.
Also yesterday, the PDP challenged the federal government led by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to identify the source of funds used by terrorists in the country.
The PDP stated this yesterday, condemning the APC’s insensitivity to the increased terrorist killings in Sokoto, Niger, Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau, and other parts of the country.
Hon. Debo Ologunagba, the PDP’s national publicity secretary, said the APC leaders’ apparent indifference to bloodletting, as well as the party’s failure to offer any tangible solution or forcefully hold its government accountable on security, validate apprehensions about the APC’s reported complicity in the country’s worsening insecurity in the last six years.
“The least Nigerians expect from the APC is for it to forcefully give its government a marching order to develop a comprehensive strategy to proactively address insecurity, including targeting the source of funds to terrorists, many of which have been revealed by a foreign government, but the APC government has refused to act,” Ologunagba said in a statement.
“Is it not unpardonable that while the APC failed to show empathy on the gruesome murder of scores of travelers who were burned alive in Sokoto state, the massacre of over 15 worshippers in Niger state, and other compatriots killed in Kaduna, Katsina, and other parts of the country in the last few days, its leaders and officials in government had the time to attend President Muhammadu Buhari’s son’s turbaning ceremony in the same troubled Kat
“Isn’t it also provocative, vexatious, and heartless of the APC and its leaders to party while Nigeria burns?”
“Such callous assault on Nigerian sensibility, which equates to dancing on the graves of the victims of the attacks, further exposes the APC as a party that is completely uncaring about killings, places no value on lives, and has no commitment to fighting terrorism in our country,” he said.
“The PDP, in solidarity with Nigerians, calls on the APC to come clean about its alleged ties to assassinations, the benefit it derives from violence and bloodshed, and why it places no value on human life.”
“Nigerians will recall that, despite the PDP’s demands, the APC and its leaders have failed to account for the “political mercenaries” they allegedly imported as thugs, gangsters, and hoodlums to inflict violence on Nigerians during the 2019 elections. The APC has also failed to explain why a self-proclaimed terrorism apologist remains in its government.
The PDP has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to show leadership and empathy by personally visiting troubled states, as part of his campaign promise to lead the fight against terrorism from the front, rather than delegating responsibility to others.
Read also: Flights to and from Kenya have been halted in Dubai for the next 48 hours.
The opposition party, on the other hand, expressed condolences to the victims of the horrific attacks and urged Nigerians to remain hopeful and focused as “we scale up our collective efforts to rescue and rebuild our nation from misrule.”
