Gentlemen of the Press,
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this conference.
As you all know, by May 29th 2015, democracy would be 16 years old in Nigeria and Kaduna state in particular.
It is however, regrettable and sad that some sections of the country and Kaduna state in particular have been unable to cultivate and or nurture a positive democratic culture that allows for freedom, equity, fairness, peace and unity.
In southern Kaduna, the last two years have been the most cruel, barbaric and primitive in the history of our people. This is because, since the election of the late Sir Patrick Yakowa as governor of Kaduna State, our villages have become human abattoirs in the hands of Fulani gunmen and butchers.
Most recently, these evil men unleashed terror on yet another area of southern Kaduna culminating in the death of more than 140 people, mostly women and children including new born babies.
This clearly suggests that, there is a deliberate plan by the Fulani gunmen and their sponsors to systematically wipe out our people and to take over our lands. Unfortunately, the Muktar Ramalan Yero led government, whose primary responsibility it is to protect us, as well as his principal, the vice president whom supposedly is the political leader of the state seem to be part of such plans.
This is evident in the usually slow and reluctant response tactics by the government each time an attack is going on. Otherwise, how could you explain the phenomenon where the fulanis come, operate for many hours; kill our people, burn down houses and barns and go unabated without any swift reaction from the government or security agencies?
Instead, they are now busy spending the state’s resources to organize kangaroo Town Hall meetings using politicians who are hungry and desperately in need of cheap political relevance or contracts.
You will recall that on Friday 28th June, 2015, some southern Kaduna elders under a group called PDP Southern Kaduna Win It All (SOKWINA) threw away decorum, and shamelessly assembled southern Kaduna youth leaders at the St. John’s Catholic Church Kachia to canvass for bloc votes for the PDP and invariably their principal, Governor Yero in the 2015 general elections.
These elders are not only shameless and a disappointment, but highly insensitive to the plight and ordeal of the southern Kaduna people when they defied and jettisoned reason by choosing to hold the said Kachia meeting at a time the entire southern Kaduna was thrown into mourning, and on the same day the people buried 25 more bodies of victims of the Sanga attacks!
We lost confidence in the state government and are now determined more than ever before to liberate our people from these bizarre experiences and hence make the following declarations:
We condemn in the strongest possible terms the incessant killings and maiming of our people by the Fulani militia.
We call on the President to pay great attention to the gradual annihilation of the southern Kaduna people by the Fulani ethnic militia and come to our rescue.
We call on our youths in the villages to rise to the defense of our territories at all costs since the government is not ready to protect us.
We condemn in totality the show of shame exhibited by Hon. Hussaini Dembo and his cohorts at the Kachia town hall meeting organized by SOKWINA.
We call on all public office holders of southern Kaduna extraction to come back home, synergize and help find a long lasting solution to the security challenges in the region.
We call on the Kaduna state government to desist from using public resources for personal or party activities as we have seen in recent times, in order for the dividends of democracy to reach the common man.
Finally, we pray for the repose of all the souls of those who lost their lives in the latest attacks and also similar ones in the past; and promised to do all we can to vote out the current government come 2015 in atonement for the innocent blood that is shed.
Thank you for listening and God bless.
Signed:
Sabo Douglas
Leader Kaduna Youth Forum
