Terrorists Kill Three, Injure ‘Many’ in Niger Community

Daredevil gunmen on Friday 12th November, reportedly killed three residents during an attack in Allawa community in Alllawa Ward, Shiroro local government area of Niger state.

The gunmen were also reported to have injured yet to be ascertained number of residents during the Friday afternoon attack.

A source from the community who craved anonymity told MBT that the attackers were heavily armed and invaded the community in a “large number”.

“They were so many and well armed, they started shooting sporadically when they got into the community.

“Three people were killed including the son of the Ward Councillor, many others were injured during the attack.” He said.

Shiroro, an agrarian community situated on 9.9822° N, 6.8093° E in the North Central region of Nigeria has suffered numerous attacks from armed group the Nigerian government and media often refer to as “bandits”.

In October, the Chairman of Shiroro local government, Hon. Suleiman Chukumba told journalists in Minna the state capital that Boko Haram terrorists have taken over 500 communities in eight Wards of the local government.

“As the chairman of Shiroro LGA, I can tell you that Shiroro is not only dealing with the issue of banditry, it has a lot of Boko Haram. I have proof of this as the chairman.

The chairman further said that Boko Haram terrorists had warned that they do not want conventional primary and secondary schools in the area but Islamic schools.

“They have told the people that they do not want primary or secondary school in the communities and that they only want to see Islamic schools.

“They have been trying to incorporate and recruit residents of the communities to become their members, telling them that they will give the recruits arms and assist them in fighting the government,” Chukumba stated.

It will be recalled that Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger state had early this year raised alarm over influx of Boko Haram terrorists into the state. The governor further said that Boko Haram terrorists had hoisted their flag in some communities in Shiroro local government, 243 km away from Abuja the seat of the Central government.

As at the time of filing this report, MBT could not independently verify the number of people injured or houses destroyed during Friday’s attack.

Efforts to speak with the Niger state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Wasiu Abiodun proved abortive as calls and messages sent to his mobile phone were not immediately returned.

Terrorists Kill village head, eight others in Zamfara

Bandits have slaughtered the village head and killed eight others in Tungar Ruwa in Anka local government area of Zamfara State.

The incident occurred at midnight on Wednesday. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the attack lasted for several hours.

The police spokesperson in the state, Mohammed Shehu, confirmed the attack but he did not give details.

Anka is one of the local government areas in Zamfara under incessant attacks by bandits. Rural people displaced by the attacks have flooded the headquarters of the local government area and Maru as well as Talata Mafara local government areas.

A source, Anas Mustapha, told this newspaper that the bandits invaded the village on motorbikes and started shooting into the air as they rode towards the village head’s residence.

They then took him out and slaughtered him in the presence of some of his people that were also gathered by the bandits.

“Eight other people were confirmed dead when the bandits left after the attack. But our understanding is that they (bandits) came for the village head. You know when they feel a particular leader in a community is giving them troubles, they do kill him instantly,” Mr Mustapha said.

He said the bandits also stole foodstuff and domestic animals in the village but did not kidnap anyone

This is coming a few days after bandits laid ambush on a road and killed seven mobile police officers on patrol duty in the state.

Credit: Premium Times

Reintegrating Boko Haram, Other Terrorists Creating a Vicious Circle of Terrorism in Nigeria

By

Steven Kefas

Terrorists world over are known to be ideologists with very extreme views mostly towards religion, sectarian or ethnic. Terrorists generally are known to have sets of agendas and oftentimes use lethal force in pursuing same.

Sheikh Osama Bin Laden, the founder of Al-qaeda is believed by many to be the father of modern terrorism. His terroristic activities cut across the Middle East, Africa and even America leaving behind footprints of blood, tears and sorrow.

In Nigeria, terrorism became prevalent with the advent of Boko Haram, an Islamic terror group with headquarters in Borno state, North East region of the country. Even though the group began waging a violent campaign against the Nigerian state following the ‘extrajudicial murder’ of its leader, Sheikh Mohammed Yusuf in July 2009, it’s ideological activities dated back to 2002 when the group was founded by the late Yusuf.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Islamist insurgencies had killed nearly 350,000 people as of the end of 2020 in Nigeria. The report by the UNDP also said that If the conflict continues to 2030, more than 1.1 million people may die. This places Boko Haram as one of the deadliest terror groups in the world.

Since the coming of the Muhammadu Buhari led administration in 2015, the handling of Boko Haram terrorists in detention Facilities across Nigeria took a new controversial dimension with the military launching an operation in 2016, codenamed; Operation Safe Corridor, an initiative for the deradicalisation and rehabilitation of former Boko Haram members. The operation allows Boko Haram terrorists to be reintergrated under the guise of “repentance” or “deradicalization”. The operation has come under severe attack from the public and even some government officials in Borno state including the state governor, Babagana Zulum.

In November 2020, Senator representing Borno South in the National Assembly, Ali Ndume publicly kicked against the rehabilitation of ‘repented’ Boko Haram terrorists. Ndume while speaking on the floor of the senate says;

“I personally disagree with that. The war is not over and some criminals that have been killing people, you say that you are doing Operation Safe Corridor for them.

“I am completely against that idea. They know my position on that, you can’t do that.

“It is when you win the war and some people surrender that you think about something like that,” Ndume said on the floor of the Senate where a Bill which is aimed at creating a national agency that would see to the rehabilitation, de-radicalization, and integration of repentant insurgents in the country was being deliberated

Ndume who is also the Chairman of the Nigerian Senate committee on Army added that the idea of the bill will only make Boko Haram have more recruits since they are sure of rehabilitation and reintegration into society in later time.

“You are just telling people to go and join Boko Haram and then repent and become something (sic) that’s a totally unacceptable idea and a way of solving the problem.” Ndume said.

Borno state Governor, Babagana Zulum has also expressed reservation over the ‘deradicalization’ of former Boko Haram terrorists.

“Another aspect of the war against the insurgency that needs to be urgently reviewed or modified, is the issue of deradicalisation of Boko Haram terrorists, who have been captured or have willingly surrendered themselves to the authorities,” he said.

Governor Zulum also confirmed the fears of many Nigerians that Boko Haram terrorists like other terrorists across the world do not genuinely repent but fake repentance to get away unpunished when arrested by the security when he said;

“It has been confirmed that the concept of deradicalisation or Safe Corridor is not working as expected. Quite often, those who have passed through the Safe Corridor initiative, or have been deradicalised, usually go back and rejoin the terror group after carefully studying the various security arrangements in their host communities, during the reintegration process.

“In addition, the host communities where the reintegration process is going on usually resent the presence of Boko Haram terrorists, even if they have been deradicalised, because of the despicable and atrocious activities they have committed in the past.” Zulum said.

Fake Repentance

Senator Ali Ndume in November 2020 claimed that the recent terrorist attack in Damboa was orchestrated by a repentant Boko Haram member.

According to the lawmaker, the repentant Boko Haram member was feeding the terror group information regarding the movement of the army.

Also, in July 2020, another repentant Boko Haram terrorist was alleged to have returned to his village, killed his father and absconded with his cattle.

Some repentant Boko Haram terrorists rejoin their comrades after faking repentance to the military. According to Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state;

“Quite often, those who have passed through the Safe Corridor initiative, or have been deradicalised, usually go back and rejoin the terror group after carefully studying the various security arrangements in their host communities, during the reintegration process”

No going back on reintegration

Despite stiff opposition from Governor Babagana Zulum, Senator Ndume and other prominent Nigerians, the Federal government through the military has continued to reintegrate Boko Haram terrorists into the society. In January 2018 for instance, the BBC reported that “Nigeria’s military says it has released 244 “repentant” Boko Haram suspects who have undergone rehabilitation.” The report further said that “The authorities say they have been de-radicalised and can re-enter society, but critics are sceptical about whether they have repented.”

In July 2019, the Nigerian Military handed over 151 repentant Boko Haram terrorists to the Borno state government. The Military claimed that the repentant terrorists were handed over to the government after completion of a 52-weeks de-radicalisation and rehabilitation conducted for them under Operation Safe Corridor.

In 2021 alone, the Nigerian Military have made several announcements concerning the surrender of many Boko Haram terrorists and their families. Reports have it that some of these terrorists have found their ways back into the Nigerian society as free men and women.

A recent report by the United Nations revealed how the Nigerian government has been ‘secretly’ reaching out to Boko Haram commanders in the forest to abandon terrorism in exchange for a comfortable life with monthly stipends from the government. The report mentioned specifically how a Boko Haram commander involved in the Bama massacre of 2014 is now living free on the government’s payroll.

This gesture of the Buhari led government to so called repentant Boko Haram terrorists is going on at a time when thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are living in very poor conditions in various camps across the North East.

Terrorist herdsmen and fake repentance

Away from Boko Haram and the North East, Fulani herdsmen militias, a Nigerian terror group Internationally adjudged the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world by the Global Terrorism Index 2014 has been wrecking havoc in the North West and North Central parts of Nigeria. The group began a campaign of violence in 2010 a year after Boko Haram launched it’s own.

State Governors in the North West and Central states have experimented different approaches towards ending the herdsmen violence in their states, all to no avail.

In 2016, the Kaduna state governor, Nasiru El-rufai said his government traced and identified killer herdsmen in some African countries, responsible for the killings in Southern Kaduna and offered them monetary compensation to stop the killings. The killings only intensified after the confession, a signal that the terrorists only used the funds received from the governor to acquire more weapons.

In neighbouring Niger state, the Governor, Sani Bello while speaking to some groups of vigilante members in Mariga local government area of the state, said that some bandits after calming repentance, used funds received from the government to buy more arms.

“Any bandit that surrenders his weapons and repents from his heinous way of living would be forgiven, and provided with a means of livelihood which would not necessarily include any cash backing.

“From experience, it has been discovered that the repentant bandits, after collecting cash from the dialogue option, they will purchase more weapons and return to their old ways of banditry.” Governor Bello said

In Katsina, President Bush’s own state, the state governor, Aminu Masari recently said he was wrong to have believed that bandits (terrorists) operating in the state had repented when he granted them amnesty years back.

“The only thing I say is with the benefits of hindsight, I wouldn’t have done it,” said Mr Masari on Channels TV. “Because at that time when we started in 2016, there were leaders. But gradually, all the leaders were eliminated. That was the failure of the first round.

“The second round after the 2019 election didn’t see the light of the day. We tried, but then we realised that, ‘who are you talking to?.

“They are not under the same umbrella. They are not pushing for any religious belief. They are just bandits, criminals, and thieves.” Governor Masari said.

Masari accused the terrorists of betraying him and vowed never to grant amnesty to any of them again.

Katsina state remains one of the epicenters of terrorists activities in the North West with several communities under terrorists siege.

The story is the same in Zamfara state where so called repentant terrorists have returned to the forest after accepting amnesty and sometimes cash gifts from the state government. A typical example is Chalaga Turji, a terrorist commander operating in Zamfara and neighboring Sokoto state. Turji and his fighters in February laid down their weapons as they embraced the state government amnesty which was brokered by controversial Islamic cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi who is renowned for acting as a middleman in arranging for state pardon on behalf of bandits. Turji later reneged and went back to the forest alongside his fighters to continue with their trade.

How Terrorists are treated abroad

In June 2021, African country, Somalia executed 21 Al-Shabab terrorists after they were sentenced by a military court in Galkayo and shot by a firing squad.

State radio said 18 of the men had carried out assassinations and bombings over more than a decade in the country.

The execution may not have ended terrorrism in Somalia but must have sent a very strong message to Al-Shabab and other terrorist groups in the country that the government means business and isn’t joking.

Post 9/11, the George W Bush’s administration established the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a maximum security detention facility for high profile terrorists. Even though the facility has come under criticisms for it’s alleged human rights violations, one cannot dismiss the fact that the facility has been used to hold terrorists for decades instead of reintegrating them into American society. To the best of my knowledge, America and other Western and even some African countries that have suffered or are suffering terrorism by Islamists do not reintegrate them in any guise instead subject them to trial and possible conviction.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, popularly known as the ‘underwear bomber’, a son of a prominent Nigerian former bank executive was sentenced to 4 life terms plus 50 years by a U.S court over attempt to bomb plane while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253, en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day, 2009. Abdulmutallab has spent over a decade in jail and most probably will die there considering his sentence.

In Nigeria, terrorists who committed worse crimes than Abdulmutallab have been freed under the guise of repentance and are currently on government’s payrolls. Some have returned back to their old ways, inflicting maximum damages on Nigeria and Nigerians.

If the U.S with all her sophistication do not consider rehabilitation of terrorists an option, one wonders how the Nigerian government intends to rehabilitate terrorists who believe their acts of terrorisms are divine and a service to God almighty.

So far, the policy or initiative of reintegrating Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in the country has proven to be counterproductive and should be discontinued henceforth.

Maximum punishment should be applied on terrorists and their sponsors when identified and arrested while our full military might should also be deployed against active terrorists across the country.

JUST IN: Four Killed by Terrorists in Fresh Southern Kaduna Attacks

No fewer than four people have been reported killed by terrorists suspected to be Fulani herdsmen militias in seperate attacks in Zangon Kataf local government area of Kaduna state, North-West Nigeria.

A source who spoke to Middle Belt Times on condition of anonymity confirmed that three wome were killed on Wednesday night when armed herdsmen attack Kwaku (Shiliam) community in Gora Ward of the local government.

“They came in around 9pm local time and started shooting.

“Two of my aunties were killed and another woman making three women.” She said.

In a seperate attack, a farmer was killed by suspected herdsmen at Chan’ahkooh community in the same local government area.

A source told Middle Belt Times that the deceased was killed while working on his farmland.

Zangon Kataf and other parts of Southern Kaduna have been in the news lately for violent attacks suspected to be perpetrated by herdsmen militias.

In September, 38 people including women and children were gruesomely killed by suspected herdsmen during a Sunday evening attack in Madamai and Abun communities, Kaura local government area.

In October, 6 people were killed during another Sunday evening attack in Jankasa community, Zangon Kataf local government area.

The authorities are yet to make any arrest or prosecute anyone in connection with the incessant killings in the area.

Kaduna State And The Rule Of Law.

Observation by Southern Kaduna’s People in Diaspora Association Europe (SOKAPDA Europe)

“Our humanity has been compromised by those who use Gestapo tactics in our war,
The longer we stand idly while they do so, the more we resemble those ‘good Germans’ who professed ignorance of their own Gestapo”

• Frank Rich

When Frank Rich made the above quote, the Germans were watching and saying nothing when Jews were being taken to the gas chambers.

We seem to have a situation in Nigeria in general,and Kaduna state in particular, where people are saying nothing when Journalists and others are being picked up at weekends and thrown in jail before any appearance in court the following Monday.

Killings in Southern Kaduna are being explained as either revenge attacks, reprisal attacks, or communal disputes.

This line of thinking is supported by Senator Shehu Sani when he said:

“One of the reasons that sustains the violence and bloodshed in Southern Kaduna is the academic rationalization of the despicable cruelties and atrocities. Each time the word revenge is emphasized after a bloodbath, the substance of terrorists committing massacre is blurred and buried”.

It is very difficult to comprehend situations where innocent lives are wasted almost every month. This has been going on for years; yet the powers that be keep explaining these as revenge attacks or descriptions of such nature.

Given this scenario, it will appear that any citizen that tries to draw the World’s attention to this narrative is picked up and locked up before being taken to court.

The general acceptable legal process is that if a Journalist or a citizen of the state commits a crime, this should be investigated by the police and if there is evidence that a crime has been committed, the person is then charged to court and it is only the court that has the power to sentence the person to detention or prison.
Obviously, there are exceptions as we have had situations where a person is pick up mostly on a weekend and locked up until Monday before being taken to court. It is obvious that this tactic is designed to deny the rights of the individual over the weekend.

This approach is only practiced in dictatorship regimes and not in a democratic society. We strongly advise the powers that be to follow due process.

Earlier incidents seem to support the view that this approach of picking people up at weekends is practiced to inflict maximum damage. This has been a tactic that the state has been deploying over the years.

For example, in 2017, Mr. Luka Binniyat, at the time a Journalist with Vanguard Newspaper, was arrested and sent to prison over a Southern Kaduna report. As a Journalist with the Vanguard, the state government focused on him rather than looked at the organisation that published the alleged story, since Mr. Binniyat was an agent of the Vanguard Newspaper. The least the state government could have done was to join Vanguard Newspaper in the suit, but this was not the case. One may conclude that this was a case of ‘selected prosecution’.

On 17 February 2017, Mr. Audu Maikori a Lawyer and CEO of Chocolate City Entertainment was arrested on a Friday in Lagos and taken to Force Headquarters in Abuja based on a detention order signed in Kaduna. The link here again is a weekend arrest.

On 8 May 2019, Mr. Stephen Kefas was arrested in Port Harcourt for re-posting an article on Facebookand transferred from Port Harcourt to Kaduna.

Many are of the view that his real crime was being critical of the Kaduna State Government.

In other words, many are of the opinion that his detention was either political or extra – judicial. The link again here is that the powers that be made sure that he was locked up before any chance to appear before a competent court.

On 4 November 2021, Mr. Luka Binniyat was again arrested by the police and refused bail.

Again, the alleged charge against him is an article (about the massacres in Southern Kaduna) that puts some individuals in power in the State in danger.

If this is the case, then Mr. Binniyat should have been investigated by the police, and if a case is established against him, he should then be charged to court and not arrested, locked up, and denied bail.

Again, the link in this case is the lack of due process in locking him up and denying bail; We are of the view that Mr. Binniyat is not a dangerous criminal.

As we write, it has been brought to our attention that 2 of the 66 worshipers abducted on Sunday,October 31,2021, at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Kakau Daji, Chikun LGA of Kaduna State have been killed by their captors.

We have also read in some of the daily newspapers that “The bandits opened fire on five of their victims on Saturday, 6 November 2021 and killed 2 while 3 others were seriously injured and are currently in the hospital”

Given the above scenario, we are surprised that this is not part of the major discussion in the scheme of things.

Some food for thoughts:

“Beware the abuse of power. Both by those we disagree with, as well as those we may agree with”

• Benjamin Carson

“Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power”

• James Madison

Long live federal republic of Nigeria
Long live people of Kaduna State
Long live men and women of good will.

Southern Kaduna’s People in Diaspora Association Europe (SOKAPDA Europe)

8 November 2021

HURIWA CONDEMNS DETENTION OF LUKA BINIYAT IN KADUNA

Prominent Civil Rights Advocacy Group:- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has asked the Kaduna State police Command to release forthwith the National publicity secretary of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union Mr. Luka Biniyat.
HURIWA said the reported detention for over five days of the senior Southern Kaduna born Journalist and activist on the alleged order of the State Commissioner for internal security on the accusation of defamation, amounted to abuse of power.
Specifically, the Kaduna State commissioner for internal security Mr. Samuel Aruwan had on November 7th 2021 alluded to his role in the detention of Mr. Luka Biniyat in a briefing he gave to journalists in Kaduna as follows:
“I wish to address you this afternoon on recent disturbing allegations leveled against me, amounting to defamation of character, injurious falsehood and incitement of public disturbance. 
On 29th October 2021, my attention was drawn to an online publication authored by one Luka Binniyat. In this publication, Mr. Binniyat quoted Senator Danjuma Laah of the Southern Kaduna Senatorial District, as stating that I am being used to cover up genocide against Christians in Southern Kaduna. 
Before questioning the veracity of the purported statement, I am supremely concerned first, for the implications of such a statement on the peace and security of our state, because of the religious and ethnic sentiments it has conveyed.
Furthermore, as a passionate journalist on leave of absence in public service, I am acutely aware of the burden of professional responsibility which must accompany accurate reportage for the consumption of the public”, Mr. Aruwan claimed. 
HURIWA has however faulted the resort to self-help by the Kaduna State Commissioner for internal security for purportedly deploying the services of the Kaduna State Police Command to clamp into detention someone he accused of defaming his person instead of following the due process of law.
HURIWA argued that the principle of rule of law makes it incumbent that he who alleges must prove his allegations in the competent court of law and not through what seemed like the manipulation of state security apparatus to pursue personal matters. 
HURIWA quoted the Black’s Law Dictionary, to have affirmed that “Defamation” means “Holding up of a person to ridicule, scorn or contempt in a respectable and considerable part of the community; may be criminal as well as civil”. 
HURIWA asserts that Defamation is the unprivileged publication of false statements which naturally and proximately result in injury to another. A communication is defamatory if it tends so to harm the reputation of another as to lower him in the estimation of the community or to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him. The meaning of a communication is that which the recipient correctly, or mistakenly but reasonably understands that it was intended to express. It is important to note that Libel and Slander are both methods of Defamation, the former being expressed by print, written pictures or signs: the latter by oral expressions or transitory gestures Defamatory Statements may consist of libel (written publication) and slander”.
HURIWA cited the case of AYUBA v. SULE (2016) LPELR-40263(CA) whereby it was held that “The first requirement that is essential in slander is malice. To succeed in a case of slander, the plaintiff must prove-the words spoken, communication of the words to a third person, falsity of the communication against the plaintiff, damage must be proved except the slander is actionable per se, the actual words spoken should be reproduced in the language spoken with an English translation. AMAHAGWU V. NGWOKOR (2004) ALL FWLR (PT.219) 1091 AT 1098, YESUFU V. GBADAMOSI (1993) 6 NWLR (PT.299) 363. In THE SKETCH PUBLISHING CO. LTD. AND ANOR. V. ALHAJI AZEEZ A. AJAGBEMOKEREF(1989) 1 NWLR (PT. 100) 678I, the word defamation is defined as “a statement which if published of and concerning a person, is calculated to lower him in the estimation of right thinking men or cause him to be shunned or avoided or to expose him to hatred, contempt, or ridicule or to convey an imputation on him disparaging or injurious to him in his office, profession, calling, trade or business.” The Rights group therefore expressed consternation that the Kaduna State internal security commissioner is attempting to elevate his personal civil matter into a matter between citizen Luka Biniyat and his agency which is absolutely unlawful and unconstitutional.  
“According to a plethora of decided cases, it has been held that in order to succeed in an action for defamation, a plaintiff must prove that the libel or slander has been published, that is communicated to some other person or persons other than the plaintiff himself. See UGO V. OKAFOR (1996) 3 NWLR (PT. 438) 542 AT 560”, HURIWA asserted. 

HURIWA has also condemned the illegal detention of Luka Biniyat beyond the time frame allowed undet the law. 
HURIWA said: “”The 1999 Nigerian constitution clearly states that persons arrested or detained shall be brought before a court within a “reasonable time”. According to the constitution, the reasonable time means a period of 24 hours when a court of competent jurisdiction is within a radius of 40 kilometres to the police station or a period of two days in any other case.
Section 35(4) of the 1999 constitution states that: “Any person who is arrested or detained in accordance with subsection (1) (c) of this section shall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time, and if he is not tried within a period of – (a) two months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a person who is in custody or is not entitled to bail; or (b) three months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a person who has been released on bail, he shall (without prejudice to any further proceedings that may be brought against him) be released either unconditionally or upon such conditions as are reasonably necessary to ensure that he appears for trial at a later date. Subsection 5 states that: “In subsection (4) of this section, the expression “a reasonable time” means – (a) in the case of an arrest or detention in any place where there is a court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of forty kilometres, a period of one day; and (b) in any other case, a period of two days or such longer period as in the circumstances may be considered by the court to be reasonable.” Section 61 (1) of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 agrees with the provisions of the constitution while stating that a suspect arrested without a court warrant, other than a capital offence, should be granted bail, where it is impracticable to charge to court within 24 hours.”
HURIWA therefore is demanding the immediate release from illegal police detention of Mr. Luka Biniyat since the plaintiff himself decided to take the law into his hand rather than follow the due process of the law by personally instituting either a civil or criminal case against the Defendant and accord him all the rights and privileges of fair hearing as provided for by the Grund Norm of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Four village heads dethroned by Emir for aiding banditry in Bauchi

Alhaji Rilwanu Sulaimanu Adamu, the Emir of Bauchi has ordered the immediate dethronement of four village heads in Toro Local Government Area of the state.

A statement signed by the Secretary to the Bauchi Emirate Council, Malam Shehu Muhammad, and made available to journalists informed that the dethroned village heads were those of Buruku; Turkunyan Biru; Gamawa and Zomo villages.

It said that the affected village heads were found complicit in abetting criminal elements in their respective domains, leading to restlessness in the area.

According to the statement, the decision on their dethronement was taken by the emirate council after they were found guilty of hosting unknown strangers suspected to be criminals in their domains without notifying their superior officers or security agents.

It added that the affected village heads were also found culpable of destroying forest resources at the Lame/Burra Game Reserve, which the statement noted posed a threat to the security of the area.

(Barristerng)

Network Shutdown: Terrorists Kill Two In Kaduna Community

Terrorists on Sunday night killed two people in Maskoro Goriko under Ligari in Kakau Ward, Chikun local government area of Kaduna state, North west Nigeria.

The Councilor representing Kakau Ward, Honorable Richard John Kpedason who confirmed the attack to Middle Belt Times said the attackers arrived the community at about 11:30pm local time and began shooting sporadically.

“They came in around 11:30 in the night and shot two people dead. one person is still missing as i speak to you.” Kpedason said

The Councilor who visited the community on Monday morning further said that the network shutdown in the area is making things more complicated both for the security forces and the residents.

“The attack in this my Ward are getting too much and the network shutdown is making it impossible for the people to call for help whenever they sight the bandits nunlike before.

“Same thing happen last Sunday when 66 members of the Baptist church where kidnapped.

“When the people saw the bandits they couldn’t call the military for help despite the fact that the military is not too far from the area.” He said

Honorable Kpedason also called on the state government to deploy more security personnel to the area to forestall future attacks.

The names of the persons killed were given as Daniel Ishaku and Mallam Ali while one Bamaiyi Bawa was still missing as at the time of filling this report. call the military

It will be recalled that Middle Belt Times reported yesterday that two of of the 66 church members were killed by their captors under unclear circumstances.

Luka Biniyat: SOKAPU Youth Call for release of veteran journalist

The Youth wing of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union SOKAPU has called for the immediate release of journalist Luka Biniyat from detention. Biniyat, who is also the National spokesman of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union was on Thursday arrested by men of the state investigation bureau in Kaduna over a news article he wrote for a US newspaper, Epoch Times.

In a statement signed by its National Youth leader, Isaac John and made available to journalists on Monday morning, the group said it is ‘greatly pained’ by the development.

The statement reads in full;

The SOKAPU YOUTH WING is greatly pained and disturbed by the events leading to the arrest of the spokesperson of the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) Mr Luka Biniyat.

Without wanting to dive into details or attempting to throw blames considering the parties involved.

The Youth Wing is unequivocally urging the petitioner Mr Samuel Aruwan The Honorable Commissioner of Home and Internal Security to as a matter of necessity withdraw his petition and ensure the release of Mr Luka Biniyat.

This is imperative because his petition no matter how justifiable is uncalled for and stands to achieve little or nothing but to showcase the regions dirty linings in public.

We must learn to deploy our mights in defense of the Southern Kaduna People and not in victimization of the Southern Kaduna People.

Southern Kaduna at this time is faced with existential threats and therefore needs all hands on deck not behind bars.

We therefore call on all and sundry to water down the embers of hate and embrace Love, as Love and Unity is the only panacea to development and prosperity.

God bless Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU)

God bless Southern Kaduna.

Terrorists kill 2 abducted Kaduna Baptist worshipers, Others injured

Terrorists who abducted 66 worshipers last Sunday at Emmanuel Baptist Church, Kakau Daji, Chikun LGA of Kaduna State have killed two of the worshipers.

This was revealed by Rev Joseph John Hayab, Chairman of CAN kaduna State chapter, during a media briefing with journalists in Kaduna on Sunday. 

He said the terrorists opened fire on five of the worshipers on Saturday, 6th November, 2021 and killed 2 while 3 others sustained sever injuries and are currently receiving treatment in the hospital.

“The lives of Kaduna abducted worshipers are in danger and require urgent intervention of  government and security agencies.”

“The insecurity in Kaduna state has continued  to grow beyond our imagination and is threatening the peace of the nation.”

“CAN Kaduna State is appealing to well meaning individuals, organisations, those in authority, especially the federal government and the international community to come to our rescue.”

“The evil we are experiencing is more than what an ordinary person in Kaduna and Nigeria can handle.”

“CAN is appealing to all Christians and people of our state to be united in fighting this evil and be watchful,” Hayab said.

It will be recalled that terrorists invade Emmanuel Baptist church Kakau Daji during service and shot two worshipers before abducting the entire congregation on Sunday last week.