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Ndubuisi Orji and Benjamin Babine, Abuja
Members of the House of Representatives from Southern Kaduna, in Kaduna State, yesterday, raised the alarm about an alleged plot by armed men to launch attacks on the area, immediately after the Sallah holiday.
The minority whip of the House, Gideon Gwani, who spoke on behalf of the lawmakers at a press briefing, in Abuja, called on the people to be vigilant and take steps to safeguard their lives.
Gwani said though the military and police were doing their best to stem the spate of attacks, there was need for security agencies to identify the flashpoints and routes from which the attackers invade the respective communities.
The lawmaker decried the incessant attacks on various parts of Southern Kaduna, which has led to loss of lives and property and expressed regrets that not much has been done by the authorities to apprehend and prosecute the attackers.
“It is no longer news that the people of Southern Kaduna have become preys in their fatherland, they have consistently been invaded, slaughtered in cold blood, raped, killed and their properties destroyed and pillaged in public glare with little success in investigating and apprehending the perpetrators of the said attacks.
“When it comes to the issues of security personnel, our people sometimes do feel that the security has not done enough. For example, when there are curfew in an area you still find attacks within the boundary of our communities. And when there is curfew, you have security inside the main towns and these attacks do not usually happen in the main town. They are not at the periphery and boundaries of our communities. Those are parts of the reasons our people think the security agencies are not doing enough.
“What we need the security to do is to identify the flashpoints, the routes by which the attackers come into our communities and go into the forest. We believe strongly that we have armed militia living in the forest, living in the hills. Security personnel need to go there and comb the forest…
“It is important to note that we also have information that there are going to be massive and co-ordinated attacks in Southern Kaduna after the Sallah break. We are calling on our people to be vigilant. And we are asking them to do all they can to keep themselves alive.”
The lawmaker identified herders/farmer clashes, forceful land grabbing by non-natives of southern Kaduna, reprisal, banditry and other forms of criminality as some of the major causes of the killings.
