Southern Kaduna Killings: SOKAPU Seeks UN/AU Base

A socio-cultural group, Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has advocated for establishment of United Nations (UN) or Africa Union (AU) Peace Enforcement Operation Base in Southern Kaduna area of Kaduna State in order to curtail recurrent killings in the area.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday in Kaduna, the SOKAPU President, Mr. Awemi Dio Maisamari,
said: “within one month, 68 persons have been killed in Atyap land, leaving 15 with life threatening injuries. These attacks have created streams of displaced persons fleeing for safety.

“We advocate for a UN or AU Peace Enforcement Operations Base in Southern Kaduna. This will practicality demonstrate that the world is interested in our collective survival as minority ethnic groups. It must not abandon us to be hounded by well funded and well-armed herdsmen who are being encouraged and protected by their powerful kinsmen and collaborators in and outside Nigeria.

“In the past 6 years, about 63 Atyap communities have been attacked, hundreds of homes burnt and hundreds of natives killed by pillaging armed herdsmen. Not a single Fulani is facing prosecution for these crimes. Ironically, scores of Atyap leaders have been arrested and put in jail over trumped up charges in the violence in which they are the victims.

“So far, there has been an apparent failure or refusal by the Kaduna State government under Mallam Nasir el-Rufai and President Muhammadu Buhari led Federal Government to apprehend and prosecute the killers. We interprete this as a clear indication of their complicity in the genocide in various parts of Southern Kaduna.

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“Again, to show that the Fulani militia have the backing of especially Kaduna State government, anytime a Fulani cow gets lost or any Fulani is harmed by suspected Southern natives, the entire area where the incident is suspected to have happened is raided by combat happy security personnel. This usually culminates in youths and community leaders being taken to police detention or prison custody.

“This belief is reinforced by the fact that survivors are usually left to die of their wounds or other forms of suffering as no relieve is sent to them. As it stands now, no fewer than 245 Southern Kaduna Communities have been sacked by these armed herdsmen in collaboration with terrorists.

“We are seriously concerned about the curious silence of Amnesty International (AI) on the pogrom going on Southern Kaduna. We are also very sad about the silence of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Africa Union (AU), the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations (UN) over the unrelenting pogrom in Southern Kaduna.

“SOKAPU is calling on these continental and global bodies to send independent investigation teams to Southern Kaduna to debunk or confirm our claims of ethnic cleansing here.”