Kaduna: Bandits kill 10 in Sanga community

• Govt Confirms Killing, Urges Calm
• President Buhari Condemns Reckless Disregard For Life
In a fresh onslaught against another Southern Kaduna community, armed bandits, yesterday, attacked and killed 10 people, while setting ablaze about 30 houses at Nandu Gbok community of Sanga Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

The House of Representatives member representing Jema’a/Sanga constituency, Shehu Nicholas Garba, in a statement said: “We woke up and saw the community on fire. Gunmen had invaded the community. The latest attack is coming while we are still mourning and trying to deal with the devastating massacre of Adara people. This has, once again, brought to the fore the plight of indigenous people of Southern Kaduna.”

While condoling with bereaved families, Garba appealed for calm and urged security agencies to reinforce their presence in Sanga, especially in the affected community, with the aim of stopping further attack and fishing out perpetrators of the heinous crime. Noting that the renewed and ferocious attacks on communities in Southern Kaduna calls for urgent attention of the nation and international community, he appealed to government and local council to provide relief materials to displaced victims immediately.

Meanwhile, Kaduna State Government has confirmed the killing of nine persons by criminal elements that attacked Nandu Gbok community.A statement by Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s spokesperson, Samuel Aruwan, said the state government condemned the killings and commiserated with the survivors and families of the victims.
 
Urging communities “to resist those who do not want peace,” the statement said “violence has left an unacceptable toll of death and injury, loss of livelihoods, pain and fear. We must overcome this by respecting our common humanity, settling differences peacefully and promptly reporting threats and suspicions to appropriate authorities.”

It said security agencies had been deployed in the area, and that the State Emergency Management Agency had been directed to provide relief materials to affected community immediately.

Also, President Mohammadu Buhari has expressed concern over the deteriorating security in Kaduna State, regretting that ‘the sanctity of life is now treated with such reckless disregard that people derive joy in shedding the blood of others or perceived enemies.”

President Buhari, therefore, urged the actors in the communal and persistent crisis in Kaduna State to come to terms with the fact that mutual violence has no winners, but losers on both sides of the conflict.

In a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Sheuhu, Buhari said, “inhumanity has replaced compassion in the hearts and minds of the perpetrators of these atrocities. No responsible leader would go to bed happy to see his citizens savagely killing one another on account of ethnic and religious bigotry. Llack of cooperation by those involved might frustrate government’s efforts towards finding a lasting solution, especially if those efforts are politicised.”