President Jonathan, Yero does not care and therefore does not deserve the votes Of the bleeding Southern Kaduna people In 2015, says ‘Concerned Realists of Southern Kaduna’
Gentlemen of the press:
We called for this press conference after series of critical study of the genocide ravaging the Southern Kaduna region of Kaduna State since 2011 Post Election Violence to date. In deed the deliberate massacre which targets all living creatures and does not exempt infants, pregnant women aged men and women and even people living with disabilities with impunity has consumed hundreds of lives, wiped out several communities and is expanding with every attack.
For the avoidance of doubt, we are not speaking for the political class of Southern Kaduna or any elitist club but for the indigent, oppressed and the marginalized peoples of Southern Kaduna whose innocent blood has been spilt and is flowing over our empty farmlands that can no longer be cultivated because the farmers that till the soil are all dead.
From our study after the 2011 post Presidential Election crisis that claimed hundreds of lives, there was a lull in the attacks before suddenly we witnessed the consistent, organized, coordinated, well equipped attacks on carefully selected segments of our communities.As at today we have recorded about 51 (fifty-one) attacks against our communities with the most recent one in the three villages of (Ungwan Gata, Tekum and Me-sankwai) in Kaura Local Government.
Over 614 (six hundred and fourteen) persons have been killed, over 1000 houses destroyed and over 1200 people seriously injured.
Our concern is that over and over again, the Government both at the State and Federal levels have either appeared unconcerned or helpless.The primary responsibility of any Government as defined in CAP 2 of the 99 Constitution makes it impossible for any Government to behave the way our Government has so far treated our situation. All we can deduce from the situation is outright neglect and sheer politicization of the attacks.
To us, the killings at our very base of existence simply mean genocide, annihilation, ethnic/religious cleansing, attempted land grabbing and a deliberate program of extinction.
We observe as follows;
These killings started after the 2011 Presidential Election. In simple terms, hundreds of our people have beenmaimed and killed, farmlands and harvests destroyed, whole families and communities displaced as erstwhile quiet villages are sacked and made refugees in their homelands as punishment for supporting President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 poll.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Vice President is the former Governor of Kaduna State, the Government that President Jonathan leads both at the State and the Federal levels have not shown any sympathy or concern over these gruesome crimes.There has not been even a whimper of sympathy from the Presidency, the Vice President has never visited or sent representation to any of the victims in the over 51 times that we have been attacked. Even when he visits Kaduna, he only visits Zaria and remains in Kaduna, receiving big crowds from the North Western States and deliberately turns a blind eye to the single political region that gave him and President Jonathan the highest number of votes in the 2011 election. This is betrayal of trust. He also attends only funerals in Southern Kaduna (funerals of late Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa and late Senator Isaiah Balat).
All pointers suggest that our people are sacrificial lambs only good at supplying votes and nothing more, it is also a proof that our rights as Nigerians in need of state protection from all threats to life are no priority to the Government of the day.
Already food security is now a serious issue, arising from the abandoned farm lands and the deliberate destruction of crops andharvested food barns (storehouses) by the attackers.
OUR resolutions:
1. It is apparent that we have been targeted for persecution and extinction by powerful forces and that the Government under Ramalan Yero, Namadi Sambo and Goodluck Jonathan appears unconcerned and or helpless. We cannot also be helpless and allow politicians take our existence for granted. THEREFORE WE will mobilize our people to Vote against RAMALAN YERO, NAMADI SAMBO AND GOODLUCK JONATHAN in 2015 as a protest to their insensitivity to the killings in Southern Kaduna and failure to honour our dead who have been slaughtered under their stewardship.
4. As for elected representatives of Southern Kaduna origin, this is just the beginning. We would xray everyone starting from the Senator to the Local Government Chairmen and Councilors. No one should attempt to ask for Votes if he /she cannot present our challenges to the Government he belongs to. We would join hands with the youths and elders of good repute to renew and strengthenour commitment and faith in freeing our communities from extinction.
John Danfulani, Ph.D
Convener, 20th March, 2014
