Bandits Kidnap Over 40 In Southern Kaduna Church, Demand N200m Ransom

TERRORISTS, jihadists, bandits and armed herdsmen have reportedly struck again in Southern parts of Kaduna State, abducting over 40 residents, according to the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU).

  SOKAPU President, Awemi Dio Maisamari, said in a statement on Monday, September 19 that the latest mass abductions took place on September 12 and 13 at Kasuwan Magani in Kajuru Local Government Area.

  Kasuwan Magani is about 20 kilometres south of Kaduna metropolis on the Kaduna-Kafanchan highway and hosts the biggest weekly market in the state.

 The SEKAPU leader disclosed that on September 12, six people were abducted in a night raid by the attackers at Ungwan Fada part of the town, while the following day, the terrorists stormed the Cherubim and Seraphim Church during a vigil programme at the Bayan Kasuwa quarters of Kasuwan Magani town around midnight, kidnapping over 60 from the church and neighbouring houses.

  They, however, could not take all of the victims, which included little children, the aged or the sick, away.

  According to the statement: “While retreating with their captors to their camps, they attacked Janwuriya village, a few kilometres from Kasuwan Magani, and abducted two more persons. As of now, 45 persons have so far been confirmed, but yesterday, September 18, they made contact with some persons in the town via phone calls and claimed that only 40 persons were held by them. They demanded a ransom of N200million, but negotiation is still ongoing.
  “We don’t know the identity or the fate of the five missing persons yet. In other communities in Kajuru and Chikun Local Government Areas, the occupying terrorists cohabit with the locals, where the locals are treated like captives. They are terrorised at will, making it difficult or impossible for them to till or harvest their farms.

  “As a result, most early maturing crops are being left to rot on the farm. This is a daily experience in most occupied communities in Southern Kaduna.”

  SOKAPU said in the last few months, Southern Kaduna has also seen an unusual influx of thousands of herds of cattle and herdsmen from neighbouring states, adding: “They indulge in deliberate farmland destruction often at night, stealing of ripe farm crops and intimidating helpless victim farmers.”

  “Hundreds of hectares of crops bearing farmlands valued in millions of naira have been destroyed. Worse hit are Sankwab, Gora Gida, Warkan, Ashong Ashui, Abuyab, Zamandabo, and Shiliam communities, in Atyap Chiefdom, Zangon Kataf Local Government Area in Southern Kaduna.

  “Numerous, often clandestine, agreements in many communities with suspected herdsmen and their fronts have yielded no positive result. The Sector S7 Commander of Operation Safe Haven held a meeting of herdsmen, host community leaders and farmers on Wednesday, September 14, at Kafanchan. At the meeting, desperate victims of the herdsmen’s devastation told the commander that they were tired of holding fruitless meetings only for the violence to increase. This makes the meetings appear to serve the purpose of window dressing only.

  “We know that our security agencies and personnel have the capacity to rout these enemies of the people and the state because their routes, locations and sometimes, even collaborators within and without are well known.

  “SOKAPU is also not unaware of the immense suffering and sacrifices being made by our security forces, for which we appreciate.”

  It added: “In view of the above, SOKAPU wishes to express profound sympathy to indigenous communities and peaceful Fulani herdsmen affected by this cruelty. We are calling on all communities not to let down their guards at this critical moment. Let us arise and prevent last minutes devastation of our dear people and our precious ancestral homeland.

  “We will definitely survive this ill-wind and even thrive once more in the land of our birth allotted to us by the Almighty.”