Another Bloody Attack By Fulanis

Suspected Fulani herdsmen descend on a Southern Kaduna village killing dozens

While Christians across the country were celebrating the symbolic resurrection of Jesus Christ on Sunday 31 March, residents of Atakar village, Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State, on the other hand, were thrown into sorrow. Heavily armed gunmen stormed the village and four other neighbouring communities (Mafang, Zalang,Taliki and Zangkan), killing 28 persons and injuring several others.

On the first day of the attack, 20 people were recorded dead, but the figure rose after eight of those seriously injured and admitted at Jankwano ECWA Church Hospital and Kaura General Hospital died.

An eyewitness told this medium when it visited Zalang, that Fulani herdsmen stormed the village in the early hours of Sunday, shooting sporadically and in the process, many, including women and children, were killed. “It was hostility of the highest order,” he said.

The assailants, who stormed the affected villages did so in a similar commando manner adopted during previous attacks in the Southern Kaduna area over the past three years.

They opened fire on the innocent villagers who were in deep sleep. At a point, when it appeared that the shootings would not stop, the villagers were left with no option than to run out of their houses for safety. “It was a war-like situation for those of us who are alive to tell this sad story,” Peter Shok, one of villagers,  lamented.

A survivor who simply gave his name as Abraham narrated to TheNEWS that the attackers were so daring and merciless as they shot sporadically at harmless villagers from the mountain top.  He explained further that the shooting spree  lasted for several hours without any security agency intervening.

Though some villagers told this medium that the attack was unprovoked, it was later gathered that it was caused by the killing of two cows (through poisoning) at Mafan village, Fadan Atakar Chiefdom, about 10 days earlier by Stephen Aboi, a farmer. He was later found dead with his throat slit open.

Aboi was believed to have poisoned the cows for grazing on his dry season farmland destroying it. However, before his untimely death, the owner of the poisoned cows, a Fulani herdsman, was said to have publicly threatened him. So, for the villagers, it was easy to conclude that his killers were Fulani herdsmen, even when the Fulanis still residing within village hill, denied involvement in the brutal murder of the young farmer.

Angry over Aboi’s death, women and children, two weeks ago, mobilised themselves and marched to the palace of the chief, Tobias Nkom-Wada to complain. But the peaceful protest turned violent when youths of the area vandalised the chief’s palace, burnt his official cars and threatened his life. It took police intervention to stop the irate youths from lynching the chief who  later fled the area.

After the attack, the pastoral Fulanis, who were unwilling to take the risk of being the next object of attack, quickly moved their families away to neighbouring Kanawuri area in Plateau state, leaving behind their cows.

As the fleeing Fulanis anticipated, the angry protesters moved to  their hilltop settlements and burnt down almost all the houses at Sabon-Gari area of the local government. The raid left more than 100 cows killed and several others missing as at the period of filing this story.

But a villager hinted that a few days after calm returned to Atakar village, the Fulanis returned to their settlement only to discover that their houses had been  razed  and several  cows killed.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Aminu Lawan, said it was too early to talk about the personalities involved. But some  displaced villagers that are currently taking refuge at  Model Primary School, Fadan Atakar, told this medium they were convinced the attackers were Fulani herdsmen on a vengeance mission.

Explaining why the police responded late, Lawan said the police got information about the incident in the early hours of Sunday, but because of the bad terrain, it was difficult for the operatives to get to the place. Solomon Majang is recovering from gun shot wounds at Kaura General Hospital. He told this magazine that more than a hundred citizens from Southern Kaduna had been sent to their early graves by what security agencies termed “unknown gunmen”. When contacted, Chairman of Kaura Local Government, Kumai Badu, was still devastated, but noted that it was most incredible that even with the tension and rumours of imminent attack by the Fulani, no security agency waded in to provide security.

Kaduna Governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, visited the affected villages on Wednesday. While at one of the refugee camps, he urged the residents to be calm and law abiding. He, however, promised that his government would do everything possible to restore peace in the affected areas and unravel the perpetrators of the dastardly act that has left over 10,000 persons displaced.

—Femi Adi/Kaduna