From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Commissioner of Police, Kaduna State Police Command, Agyole Abeh has said that the warring parties in the crisis rocking Southern Kaduna have not shown enough readiness in giving peace a chance.
He made the disclosure while leading journalists on tour of the affected communities around Kafanchan at the weekend.
Although, he claimed normalcy has returned to the area, he noted that there are still pockets of isolated killings in form of reprisal attacks.
Abeh’s disclosure came following the killing of a police inspector.
The victim whose name could not be ascertained as at the time of filling this report was killed last Friday in Kafanchan town, Jema’a local government area of southern Kaduna.
The victim was said to have been killed about 9a.m on his way to work, near the General Hospital, Kafanchan.
Also, an eyewitness said, a traffic warden identified as Bitrus Agwai was kidnapped a day after the renewed killings in the area.
The two incidents were recorded in spite of efforts by Kaduna State government, security operatives as well as other interest groups to restore peace to troubled southern part of the State.
According to Commissioner of Police, “in one of the latest attacks, a distress call was made and we responded by confronting the attackers and in the process we lost one of our men. With enough force now on ground, the situation will be brought to a halt in conjunction with locals because we are all beginning to understand that there is no need for killings and reprisals.
“Special forces that were deployed by IGP are working relentlessly to put the situation under control. But sincere dialogue remains the only alternative to restore lasting peace among the members of these communities”, CP explained.
The Police boss, however, decried non readiness of the two warring parties for dialogue.
He pointed out that this might be due to fear of the unknown despite the overwhelming presence of security apparatuses, saying that the best way to resolve whatever grievance both parties may have, remains dialogue.
According to him, the 24-hour curfew imposed on Jema’a and Kaura local government areas few days ago was relaxed, but security operatives were forced to re-impose it last Friday morning based on intelligence report that some mischief makers might foment trouble.
“We assessed that the peace meeting may not hold based on what we heard over night about Bankin Kogi, Asim and two other places. We have been having continuous attacks here because each time a group attacks another group, there would be reprisal.
“So, most of the attacks are not heard or reported until there is reprisal. We learnt that armed herders were attacked and there was reprisal.”
Also speaking, 1 Division Garrison, Brigadier-General Isa Ismail, who relocated to join the forces on ground said, his observation has so far revealed that both warring parties are guilty of the bloody attacks against each other.
General Ismail said the people needed to come together and work with security agencies to bring an end to the killings.
“Both parties are guilty. We respond to distress call as against what people are saying that we delay in response. We remain neutral. We are here to prevent breakdown of law and order. We killed two of the attackers based on distress call we received while a policeman was also killed by attackers,” he said.
District Head, Dangoma, Mamuda Suleiman said, there had not been any attack on his community after the December 2016 incident, adding, “Even when there was an attack then, we did not go on reprisal and that is partly responsible for relatively peace we are having here.”
A resident of Goska District, Timothy Gimba said, though there was relative peace since arrival of security personnel, he expressed worry that, they had not been able to go to farm either to harvest or prepare for the next planting season out of fear of the unknown.
According to him, “the security personnel are working seriously and that has given us some of peace of mind for the past three days. But then, we cannot go to our farms. Fulani have taken over our farms.
“Our district head attempted to go to his farm but he was chased away by these Fulani people. We are pleading with security personnel to help chase these invaders away so we can go to farm. March is here when we are supposed to go to farm and start preparation for the next planting season.”
As at last Friday when Sunday Sun visited Kafanchan, major roads were deserted due to the curfew imposed in the area.
Apart from security operatives who were on constant patrol banks, schools, telecommunications, filling stations and other small businesses were shut down.
There were also illegal road blocks in Kafanchan town suspected to have been mounted by angry youths from in the area.
However, in places like Taka Sabon Gari, Ambam Kanim, Goska, Dangoma and Bakin-Kogi, which are few kilometres from Kafanchan, residents were seen sitting in front of their houses to observe the curfew.