Insecurity in Kaduna: “We can’t take it anymore”, Atyap community cries out

The President of Atyap Community Develop­ment Association, Comrade Samuel Achie, has lamented the kill­ings and attacks in Atyap community in the Southern part of Kaduna State

At a press conference at the Nigeria Union Of Jour­nalists (NUJ) Secretariat, Ka­duna, Achie said, “It is with a heavy heart that I again have to address you today on the on-going carnage of killings, maiming, destruction and dis­placement of communities be­ing perpetrated on the Atyap land by forces of the terrorist militia.

“While we have remained resolute in pursuing the peace initiated by our paramount ruler, HRH Sir Dominic Yaha­ya Gambo and other sons and daughters of the land, the en­emies of peace, keep inflicting pains by invading our villages and killing our people at will and getting away with it.

Achie lamented that “the un­fortunate thing is that at any time there is a peace meet­ing with either government officials, representatives of Fulani organisations, or the NGOs, to try and advance the peace process, the next will be an attack on the land by the terrorist militias, who subsequently vanish without any trace of their where­abouts”.

He called on the se­curity forces to step up and show commitment to ending the killings, to protect the lives and properties of the citizens

“With the deliberate per­petuation of violence against the Atyap Chiefdom and communities in Zangon-Ka­taf local government area of Kaduna State, the lives of citizens have been reduced to nothing in the land, and the lives and property of our people are being obliterated at will by those that feel they are protected and can do whatev­er they want with human lives and go free.

“After my last press release and update on the happenings in Atyap land on July 17, 2021, many lives and innumerable property have been destroyed in villages like Abuyab, Maza­ki, Mawakili, Takjei, Matache, Matagama, Gora Gan, Kur­min Masara and Atisa.

“On Sunday 30th January, 2022, 11 people were brutally murdered by terror­ist militia forces; many were wounded, over 30 houses burnt and over 100 people displaced. Again, on Monday, January 31, 2022, Atisa village in (Kurmin Masara) was attacked and five lives were lost and eight houses burnt too.“.

He lamented that even in the presence of the security checkpoints in Bakin Kogi and Ashaawuce, both less than a kilometre from the scene, some people from the area are still missing and unaccounted for.

“In several meetings and in particular during one of our visits at the invitation of His Excellency the Kaduna State governor, Nasiru el-Rufa’i, he publicly applauded the efforts of HRH, the Agwatyap, on the efforts to sustain the peace initiative and the high respect he had for the paramount ruler. Despite all this, His Royal Highness and the Atyap nation have been left alone to carry their cross for reasons best known to the government.

“In that same visit, His Excellency did give a dead­line that by December 2021, if peace was not restored in Atyap land he would withdraw all the security op­eratives.

“Given the obvious abandonment of the Atyap communities to their fate in the hands of violent and murderous terrorists armed to the teeth with sophisticat­ed weapons. I sincerely feel it is time His Excellency called on the security apparatus for a review of strategy and pos­sible changes where possible”.