POSTED BY-Usman Yusuf Kaduna Violence: Death Toll Rises To 12 Death toll from Sunday’s violence in Kachia local government of Kaduna State has risen from the initial figure of four to 12. The leadership of Meyyeti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria which disclosed this yesterday to LEADERSHIP said, “12 people were confirmed dead and were have buried them.” He added that about 1,000 fulanis has been made refugees by the recent crisis. Led by its chairman, Aldo Ahmadu Sulaiman, the leadership said they were disturbed by the manner they were attacked at their settlements. He stated that the Fulanis were not part of the crisis and had been living peacefully with the people in the town. “We are worried about the Kachia crisis. Unfortunately, something happened in the town and some people used the opportunity to follow our people to their settlements to attack them. This incidence made us believe that some people are waiting for the slightest opportunity to attack us,” he said. “Fulani men are not directly involved in the crisis, but they went after our people killing and destroying our property. Presently, we have more than 1,000 refugee Fulanis. They are there in military barracks together with other people affected by the crisis. They bunt Fulani houses; more than 100 Fulani settlements were burnt – all in Gumel district.”. He also disclosed that “about 20 of our cows were killed and a number of our people are still in the bush; we don’t know their fate.” He said the Fulani community would not attack anybody because there were peaceful “and we want to live in peace with those in our communities. But we don’t know why they always attack us each time there is a crisis. This is our worry.” He appealed to the state government to fish out and prosecute all those responsible in the crisis to serve as a deterrent to others. In his remarks, the Fulani leader in Kachia, Aldo Toro Bello Ladduga, wondered why are the object of attacked each time there is a crisis. “We don’t know why they attacked us because we are not fighting anybody. Some of our leaders were killed in the crisis including our cows. We are not happy with the commissioner of police who denied that there was loss of lives in the crisis,” he said. When contacted, the chairman of Kachia local government, Mr. Peter Agite only, said: “I have not been informed officially about the deaths, but I can confirm to you that there are refugees and I have gone to the camp to visit them.”
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 06:54:06 +0000