SKIPFo to drag Gov. Yero ICC for genocide against Atakad

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As you may be aware, Southern Kaduna Indigenes Progressive Forum (SKIPFo) is a registered, non-partisan, non profit, non-violent organisation made up largely of youths, serving and retired professionals of Southern Kaduna origin with the major objective of achieving a free, secured and developed Southern Kaduna. We are for peace, justice and the right of everyone to pursue self-realisation and happiness as contained in the Universal Chatter of Human Rights.

We are registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission as a corporate body

Having made this introduction, SKIPFo hereby wishes to state that it is with anguish and deep regret that we are making this Press Statement after the unending bloodbath of our people under the present Kaduna State government.

Unfolding events since the unprovoked,   violence against the non Hausa/Fulani residents of Kafanchan town just after the result of the April 2011 Presidential polls by well trained an armed Muslims supporters of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Party, and the introduction of same carnage in Zonkwa, and most parts of Southern Kaduna, we  have not had any sleep.

Below is a chronicle of the gory summary of what Southern Kaduna has gone, and still going through

DATE	INCIDENT	KILLED	WOUNDED	DAMAGES	ARREST	PROSECUTION
24/7/11	About 150 armed Fulani men attacked U/Yaro and U/Yuli of kussom District of Jema’a LGA	Nil	5	Several houses burnt down	Over 100	Nil
20/8/11	Armed Fulani men attacked Fadiya Bakut in Fadiya District of Bajju Chiefdom of Z/kataf LGA	3	2	Several houses burnt down	None	None
18/9/11	Armed Fulani men attacked U/ Rana of Bitaro District of Ham Chiefdom of Jaba LGA	4	11	Nil	8	None
26/10/11	Armed Fulani men attacked Fadiya Bakut Z/Kataf LGA	1	1	Several houses destroyed	1	None
23/10/11	Armed men attacked Katari Village in Kachia LGA	2	–	–	None	None
4/11/11	Armed Fulani men attacked worshippers on night vigil in St Joseph Catholic church Tabak in Bajju Chiefdom of Z/Kataf	2	14	Church damaged	6	None
4/11/11	Armed Fulani men attacked Kurmin Bi and Zonkwa in Bajju chiefdom of Z/kataf	5	1	–	None	None
11/11/11	Armed Fulani men attacked Piyakashi Village U/Masara District of Fantsuwam Chiefdom	2	–	–	–	–
27/12/11	Armed Fulani men attacked Kakum Gida Kagoro of Oegworok Chiefdom of Kaura LGA	2	1	–	–	–
28/12/11	Armed Fulani men attacked Angwan Rami of Fada District of Oegworok Chiefdom of Kaura LGA	5	9	–	–	–
26/2/12	Armed Fulani men again attached Kakam Gida  Oegworok Chiefdom with corpses of the 2 youths branded with the letter ICL. No investigation has been carried out to establish what it means.	2	1	–	–	–
5/3/12	Armed men attacked and killed 4 youths in Kahugu Piriga Chiefdom of Lere LGA	4	–	–	–	–
12/5/12	Armed attacked on Narom Zonkwa in 2/kataf LDA	–	1	–	–	–
1/6/12	Armed Fulani men attacked Bankwa village in Madaiya District of Z/ Kataf LGA	2
15/6/12	Armed Fulani invaded and ransacked Nayi and Deyi villages in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State	12	16	Consticated cash	–	–
6/12/12	Fulani armed men killed one Igbo man in Madauchi near Zonkwa, Bajju Chiefdom Z/Kataf LGA	1	–	–	–	–
16/12/12	Armed Fulani men again attacked Madauchi villaged in Zonkwa, Bajju Chiefdom of Z/Kataf LGA	6	4	2 houses burnt down	8	–
23/4/13	Armed Fulani men attacked Aduwan Gida of Bajju Chiefdom of Z/Kataf LGA	11	11	Property destroyed	–	–
23/7/13	Armed Fulani men  attacked Fadan Kaje	5	7	Houses destroyed	–	–
23/12/13	Armed Fulani men attacked Bankwa village in Madauchi District of Bajju Chiefdom of Z/Kataf LGA	2	4	–	–	–
24/12	Armed Fulani men attacked Gwom Chiefdom of Jema’a LGA	3	–	–	–	–
2011	TAKAD CASE Fulani herdmen attacked one Mr Tanko Kaliyok living in Mafan village uphill and rus	–	1	Cattle rustled	–	–
24/5/12	Fulani  herdman went to Mafan Village on the hills and killed one Mr Dansa Kaka a Takad indigenes and rustled his cattle of them were arrested and taken to state CID Kaduna	–	1	Cattle rustled	–	–
20/3/13	Fulani herdsmen brutally murdered on Mr Joseph Amboye and  body corpse dragged and dumped inside fresh spring water	1	–	Cattle rustled	6	–
19/3/13	Fulani herdsmen killed Mr Markus Abba	1	–	–	–	–
30/3/13	Fulani massive onslaught attack on a scale using sophisticated weapons including AK 47  on 8 Takad villages.	32	107	Over 500 houses burnt down and property destroy	None	none
2/9/13	Fulani attackers invaded Adu village	9	5	Houses burnt including property	6	None
2/9/13	Fulani fully armed attacked a Takad village	2	1	–	–	–
23/9/13	Armed Fulani attacked Takad Village Tafan District	–	–	50 houses burnt food stuff and property destroyed	–	–
28/9/13	Armed Fulani men attacked Zangang	15	Several wounded	School, churches  and property burnt	–	–
16/12/13	Armed Fulani attacked a Takad Village	2	–	–	–	–
31/12/13	Armed Fulani attacked the same Village again	1	–	–	–	–
3/12/13	Armed Fulani men in military uniforms attacked Danti and Zangang Villages	–	–	25 houses were burnt	–	–
30/1/12	MOROA CASE Fulani attacked a house in Manyi Akura Moroa chiefdom of Kaura LGA wiping out a whole family of seven (7)	7	–	One house burnt down	–	–
31/1/13	Fulani attacked Tekum Village in Moroa Chiefdom of Kaura LGA killing mostly women	16	Several people wounded	Houses burnt down and property destroyed	1	–
	Total	161	More than 202	Over 1000 houses and property millions of naira	136	Nil

All conflicts between the attackers and the natives in Southern Kaduna are always, surely and permanently started by Hausa/Fulani  and the records are there. Our people always react in self defence, which at times, may lead to over reaction.

But, for the records, lets put it straight that:

·         SKIPFo does not support any unconstitutional means of seeking for justice, no matter how wronged by anyone or group.

·         That Southern Kaduna is advanced in civilisation, endowed with urbane, educated people, blessed with resources and indigenes  of means to pursue justice legally, and get the right type of “vengeance” without recourse to violence . Therefore SKIPFo DOES NOT, and will never encourage, sponsor or inspire any form of violence.

·         Having said this, we shall however, not fool any community to fold its arms, and watch marauding invaders storming their homes, putting them, their wives and children under the sword before razing down their homes, while government pretends to watch helplessly.

·         We indeed, ask all  our communities under siege to find means of defending themselves in the face of the unrelenting  genocide against them by  same people that we have given our grazing fields, streams, river  and unconditional friendship for as long as memory can recall.

·         We believe that the genocide in Southern Kaduna, especially the desperate campaign to wipe out the Takad people and occupy their pristine land by Fulani, and other jihadists is not without the complicity of strong sponsors and  mentors  under the present government which has refused to take this issue seriously.

·         SKIPFo wishes, with all sense of responsibility, place the entire dark cloud hanging over the Maroa  and Takad areas of  Kaura LGA on the shoulders of His Excellency, Alh. Mukhtar Ramalan Yero, the Executive Governor of Kaduna state.

·         The utterances, actions and inactions of Gov. Yero on the mass murder of our people clearly  points to the fact that he does not care a hoot about what happens to us, and has directly or indirectly encouraged the pogrom going on.

·                At a peace submit held in Kaduna last year, Governor Ramalan Yero by fiat declared that he had abolished Indigenes/Settlers dichotomy. He easily forgot that you do not force peaceful co-existence at other people’s expense but you must work towards attaining it.

To show that Gov. Yero has unabashed contempt for our people these few example should suffice;

·                   On 17^th April, 2013 after the Fulani attack on Takad Chiefdom by the murderous Fulani kinsmen of the governor on 30^th April, 2013. Gov Ramalan Yero at a stakeholders meeting in Kagoro Town Hall had fixed his gaze on HRH Agwam Bajju Mal Nuhu Bature OON and swung the gaze to HRH Agwam Takad Mal Tobias Wada and then boasted that they should look at him very well, that he is a Fulani in and out and that anybody who touches a Fulani man will tantamount to touching him. He there and then directed to two traditional rulers to resettle the Fulani people displaced from their chiefdoms without pre-conditions.

·       On the 29^th of September last year,, while our youths were protesting  another  murderous onslaught on a community in Kaura LGA,  the Governor described them in a Press Statement, through his  DG Media, Mallam  Ahmed Maiyaki, as “miscreants” who would be severely dealt with by security operatives.

·         Also, on the 3^rd Jan, this year, after a skirmish believed to be initiated  by the Chief of Jere, Dr. Sa’ad Usman,  and a farmer, Yohana Barde  in which the Chief  was severely  wounded, and Barde fatally shot by the Police Orderly of the Chief, the same Gov, through Maiyaki issued a statement, describing the victim and his sympathisers as “miscreants”. The governor, as the Chief Security Officer of the state, also ordered a mass arrest of innocent Gbagyi youths after the incident. Hausa/Fulani youths who came out and attack passersby, and Gbagyi natives on the Jere-Abuja expressway after they learnt about what happened to their chief, were not left alone. In fact two Gbagyi youths who were wounded by the Hausa/Fulani hoodlums were arrested and detained with their wounds by the Police, all under the directive of the Governor. The police orderly to the chief of Jere has not been brought to Justice for shooting Yohanna Barde.

·                   A Fulani man Mal Tahiru reported a case of murder of people killing of cows and missing of a boy to the Divisional Police Station Kaura. The police arbitrarily arrested three youths namely Yohanna Genet (Rasta), John Yohanna and Bartholomew Tobias on the 4^th January, 2014. They were taken to State CID Headquarters of Kaduna State Police Command on 5^th January, 2014. The cause of arrest as charged by the police is “Participated in Moroa killing people and cows of which one of the boys is missing”. It is noteworthy that the said Tahiru only does come to that area for grazing but is based in Jos. He has so far failed to surfaced to press his allegations, he has disappeared. Yet, the Kaduna State police command against all constitutional requirements has detained these youths for 32 days now as at today 6^th February, 2014 without charging them to court.

·         The Police Commissioner, in carrying out the instruction of the Chief Security Officer, said that the arrested youths would be held indefinitely, until Chief Usman was well enought to come and testify against them in Court. It took the serious intervention of Southern Kaduna Lawyers Forrum to get them out on bail

·       In fact, in his frantic effort to please the Hausa/Fulani kins-men, against the people the Gbagyi, the Police Commissioner ordered the invasion of a church, ECWA Church Issah Makaranta, near Jere while church service was in session and fired their rifles at the air and droved the worshippers out  in a botched operation to arrest phantom suspects last month.  That almost led to the breakdown of law and order in that area, which ultimately, may have spread to other parts of the state.

·         KADUNA –

·         On the 15^th February, 2012,  Rev Joseph Hayab, Special Assistant to the Governor on Christian Affairs, and Mallam Halliru Maraya, Special Assistant to the Governor on Muslims Affairs and  Ishaku Dogo Makama, Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Kaduna State said at a Press Conference said  that after  pocketing not less than N564 billion in cash, apart from food stuff and other relief materials, Internally Displaced Persons (all Hausa/Fulani Muslims from Zonkwa)   from the last April 2011 polls violence, had refused to leave the  Hajj Camp, in Kawo, Kaduna.

·         While the aforementioned enjoyed so much largesse from Yakowa, Yero on his part is not known to have offered a kobo to the much publicised 10,000  Takad refugees.

He knows well that since they are now under starvation since the Fulani made it impossible for them to return and cultivate their farm. Most of them are sick, traumatized without any form of assistance even as more violence is being visited on them on a daily basis under the watch of Yero.

 There is no further prove to show how he hates Southern Kaduna People and encourages the systematic genocide of the Takad by starvation and violence

  His Excellency, Governor Yero  has no respect for our feelings and sensibilities and is bothered less about the ramification of his actions on the entire state

 This attitude clearly encourages about the killings of our people, since whenever we protest to point out the governors indifference to our security, we would be labelled names just for the violence to escalate.

Encouraged, by the feeble security in place, a band of ravaging Fulani militants invaded Takad villages again last Monday, and wiped out all the inhabitants before razing the villages into ashes.

SKIPfo  believes that if it were other ethnic nationalities murdering Fulani at will as it is done us, the governor would have since taken very aggressive measures  to stamp out the evil- including bringing in the American Marines where possible.

After collecting enough documentary evidence, and studying all incriminating information at our disposal, we are therefore holding His Excellency, Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero responsible for the genocide, progrom and ethnic cleansing against the Takad, Sholio (Moroa) and other Southern Kaduna people.

·                   So far, 161 people have been murdered in cold blood by Fulani attackers. All those killed were either peacefully going about their peasant’s way of life or innocently sleeping in their houses at night in their ancestral land without molesting anybody.

·                   Well over 202 people have been maimed and wounded without any medical assistance from Kaduna State government.

·                   Over 1000 houses have been burnt down including churches and schools. There are also destroyed property worth  hundreds of millions of naira.

·                About 136 Fulani attackers have been arrested and handed over to either the STF or the police. However, once their cases reach Kaduna, nothing is heard again about it.

·                   No single prosecution has been carried out and thus no conviction in all these cases.

·                   If there is any doubt that Kaduna state complicity is targeted at wiping out our Southern Kaduna people starting from the Takad and now Moroa people? Should government not protect its citizens? How long shall this case of murderous impurity on the part of the Fulani be allowed to linger on?