The Nigerian army has confirmed
the killing of 66 people in eight different communities in Kajuru local
government area of Kaduna state.
Faruk Yahaya, general officer
commanding (GOC) 1 division of the army and Ahmad Abdulrahman, the state police
commissioner, confirmed the mass killing on Saturday when they accompanied
Nasir el-Rufai, the state governor, on a tour of some of the affected villages.
While responding to the
governor’s question on the casualty figure, the GOC said 66 people were killed.
He said 37 of the victims were
killed at a river bank, while the killing spread to other villages within the
local government.
“As far as we are concerned, what
we reported was 66, comprising male, female and children,” he said.
“We have shown you the other area
in that village, where according to information, the residents were lured to
that riverine and were slaughtered.
“A total of 37 were said to have
been buried there. You have seen the grave there and you have also seen
elements of their materials that were on the ground, including some traces of
blood.
“Now information has it that it
also spread to other villages. Various distances from here, some, one
kilometre, some two kilometres. You know how the Fulanis are, they are far
apart. That’s the information we have.”
The state police commissioner
said the six people arrested were being questioned on the role they may have
played in the massacre.
He said those arrested would be
charged to court on Monday, adding that detectives have been dispatched to
track and arrest various suspects.
“Even today, we effected some
arrest. They are right now undergoing interrogation at the state CID (criminal
investigation department). When I get back, we are going to reveal what they
have gotten so far,” he said.
Following the killings, some
groups accused the governor and the security heads of not visiting Angwan
Barde, the Adara community where 11 people were killed among the affected
villages.
The Adara Development Association
(ADA) said el-Rufai was guilty of “bias
and manufacturing deliberate lies” against their ethnic group.
In a statement on Sunday, Luke
Waziri, national secretary of ADA, said the governor is “trying to instigate a
crisis in the area by mischievously leaving out the 11 Adara people who were
killed.
On Saturday, Chidi Odinkalu, a
human rights lawyer, also accused el-Rufai of lying about the casualties and
the timing of the attacks.
He said although there were
killings were recorded in the Kajuru LGA last week, the casualties were not
more than 11.
Odinkalu said he contacted many sources in the state,
including residents, traditional and religious rulers and nobody confirmed the
incident resulting in 66 deaths.
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