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Southern Kaduna killings is rooted in 2011 elections –El’Rufai

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Southern Kaduna killings is rooted in 2011 elections --El'Rufai

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has claimed that foreign Fulani herdsmen from about 14 African countries are responsible for the brutal killings in Southern Kaduna.

The governor made these revelations when he spoke with select reporters in his office in Kaduna, disclosing that the crisis in Southern Kaduna dates back to the 2011 elections.

El-Rufai had told the reporters, “For Southern Kaduna, we didn’t understand what was going on and we decided to set up a committee under Gen. Martin Luther Agwai (rtd) to find out what was going on there. What was established was that the root of the problem has a history starting from the 2011 post-election violence.

“Fulani herdsmen from across Africa bring their cattle down towards Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria. The moment the rain starts around March, April, they start moving them up to go back to their various communities and countries.

“Unfortunately, it was when they were moving up with their cattle across Southern Kaduna that the elections of 2011 took place and the crisis trapped some of them. Some of them were from Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Senegal. Fulanis are in 14 African countries and they traverse this country with the cattle.

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“So many of these people (the foreign Fulanis) were killed, cattle lost and they organised themselves and came back to revenge. So a lot of what was happening in Southern Kaduna was actually from outside Nigeria. We got a hint that the late Governor Patrick Yakowa got this information and he sent someone to go round some of these Fulani communities, but of course after he died, the whole thing stopped. That is what we inherited. But the Agwai committee established that.

“We took certain steps. We got a group of people that were going round trying to trace some of these people in Cameroon, Niger republic and so on to tell them that there is a new governor who is Fulani like them and has no problem paying compensations for lives lost and he is begging them to stop the killings.

“In most of the communities, once that appeal was made to them, they said they have forgiven. There are one or two that asked for monetary compensation. They said they have forgiven the death of human beings, but want compensation for cattle. We said no problem, and we paid some. As recently as two weeks ago, the team went to Niger republic to attend one Fulani gathering that they hold every year with a message from me.”

Analysts say the northern governors are begging the issue and that a more inclusive and strategic response is required to tame the crisis.

The Kaduna killings which target mostly Christian communities recently drew the ire of a senior journalist, Sam Omatseye, who called on the Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) to arm their faithful with a view to defending themselves against any violent attacks by the Fulanis.

How a balance of terror will resolve the seeming ethnic in Kaduna remains to be seen.


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