A total 245 people have been allegedly killed and 623 houses completely burnt down in Atyap chiefdom, in Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
This was disclosed by the Paramount Ruler of the Atyap Chiefdom, Agwatyap, Sir Dominic Yahaya, in Kaduna on Wednesday.
The monarch stated this on Wednesday, at the Kaduna Catholic Social Centre, during the commemoration of the International Peace Day 2022, organised by the Liturgy and Social Justice, MCSL and SCD in Kaduna.
He said, “The recurring attacks have become most distressful and disturbing, as the alleged killers who are known to have lived among the communities will often call their victims to notify them of their mission to kill, before committing dastardly acts on the innocent and harmless farmers.
“The genesis, which many considered premeditated, started in early 2019, when isolated individual killings of farmers by suspected Fulani herdsmen within our midst became rampant and before we knew what was happening about 14
such incidents had occurred.
“This snowballed into a major crisis on the 16th of June 2020. There after massive attacks have occurred in villages whereby people were killed and houses and properties are burnt by suspected Fulani herdsmen, which some uninformed people termed as farmer-herder clashes, whereas this narrative has been most painful as the attacks which occur mostly at night have left many communities desolate.”
He said security agents were grossly inadequate to handle the situation in the villages as the attacks in some cases occurred simultaneously. Adding that it could have been worse if the security agents were not there. He said with nowhere to go, the communities have turned to God.
Mr Yahaya said failure to adopt and integrate local and traditional hunters and vigilantes who are very conversant with local environments and forest that serve as hideout for terrorists had worsened the situation.
The monarch called for the immediate establishment of local community policing to complement the efforts of the Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies.
