Southern Kaduna genocide
The immediate origins of killings in Southern Kaduna especially in the 2010s and early 2020s can be traced to the events that brought in Goodluck Jonathan into power in 2010 as the President of Nigeria, and escalated after the presidential election in 2011, which he won.
"[13] Yero's tenure was marred with attacks by "unknown gunmen" (later discovered to be Fulani herdsmen) in the Southern Kaduna area, causing him to be unpopular among the people.
[16] Southern Kaduna vowed to vote out governor Yero and president Jonathan in the 2015 gubernatorial and presidential elections, due to their insensitivity to the killings by the Fulani gunmen in the region.
[24] In December 2016, in an open interview the Kaduna State governor, Nasir Ahmed Musa el-Rufai confessed to paying some Fulanis across the Sahel countries like Niger, Mali, Chad, Senegal and Cameroon, to stop killing Southern Kaduna indigenes due to the grievances erupting from the killing of their cattles in the 2011 post election crisis in the state.
According to him, "The Governor just invented this lie to make excuse for his imported murderous Fulani kindred to continue their extermination of our people and the occupation of our lands.
The Southern Kaduna People's Union (SOKAPU) points on this plan as a cause for the immediate crises, but the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) denied this claim.
[33] On 26 October 2016, a public commentator and former Kaduna State University lecturer, John Danfulani, got arrested over his Facebook post criticizing Nasir el-Rufai's government and detained for 13 days.
His offense was reposting a post on Facebook made by Sahara Reporters on the kidnap and murder of the Agom Adara, HRH Raphael Maiwada Galadima.
The reason for his arrest as narrated by the Southern Kaduna People's Union (SOKAPU) spokesman, Luka Binniyat, was that he handed over a Fulani man suspected of being a notorious kidnapper in the area to the Nigerian Army, in whose custody he died.
Earlier in June of that year, 313 districts and 4,453 village heads were reportedly sacked by the el-Rufai administration with the excuse of lessening the financial burden posed by the local government councils.
This reform led to the reverting to the pre-2001 77 districts and 1,429 village units at the time of the deregulation of the traditional institution by the then-governor, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi.
[44] In the early hours of January 1, 2018, the Etum Numana, HRH Gambo Makama, and his pregnant wife were attacked and killed in their home in Arak village, Sanga LGA.
In June 2018, a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, and the founder of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun, tackled el-Rufai, on the decision to convert some chiefdoms to emirates in the state.
[49] The OPC leader also commended the joint resolution by the Nigerian National Assembly to sanction President Muhammadu Buhari over his attitude towards the ongoing killings in parts of that country.
[50] In October 2018, the Agom Adara, HRH Dr. Raphael Maiwada Galadima, was kidnapped alongside his wife and driver at Maikyali village along the Kaduna-Kachia road[51] on his way back to his palace in Kachia after accompanying el-Rufai to Kasuwan Magani to an attack site.
"His murder was said to be the result of his refusal of the governor's plan to balkanize the Adara Chiefdom to accommodate a Kajuru Emirate,[53] which was created shortly after his death.
Mark Nzamah Jacob, in Gwantu, followed the continuous killings of Southern Kaduna indigenous peoples in Sanga LGA, by Fulani herdsmen.
[60] On Christmas Eve of 2016, 14-year-old Anna, daughter of a former Chairman of Jema'a Local Government Area and Deputy Speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Gideon Morik, and five other people were killed in their village, Goska.
Zachariah Gado of 19 DCC Fellowship; CAN President, Samson Ayokunle; CAN Secretary-General, Musa Asake; former KASU lecturer, John Danfulani.
Furthermore, they asked for a review of the "White paper of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Kaduna State Religious Disturbances of 2001", pressing for the arrest of Elder Saídu Dogo, Archbishop P.Y.
According to Premium Times Nigeria's report by his special adviser on media and communications, Muyiwa Adekeye, The events of 11th and 12th June 2020 in Zangon-Kataf and Kauru LGAs offer compelling evidence that these persistent contentions over farmlands is a conflict trigger that has to be boldly addressed, rather than wished away.
[74] In March 2021, soldiers opened fire on women peacefully protesting the indiscriminate arrests of their children in Kanai district, Atyap Chiefdom, killing one woman on the spot, shooting two others with one dying later on, and injuring many others.
On 31 March 2021, SOKAPU reported how the Commander of the Nigerian Army Operation Safe Haven, Major General Dominic Onyemulu, got about 15 Atyap community leaders among which were village heads, arrested.
We also said that under Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, that has been the style of justice – victims are dragged and punished, while the alleged murderers are walking free with no consequence to their actions.
Awemi Dio Maisamari, the National President of the Adara Development Association (ADA), said between January and May 2020, no fewer than 107 people have been killed, 49 injured, about 66 persons kidnapped, 111 houses burnt, 32 villages destroyed and about 20,000 displaced.
[90] Responding to an interview question by a Punch Nigeria reporter, Samuel Tabara Kato, the SOKAPU National President said repentant terrorists should not be allowed to join the security agencies.
[91] The responsibility of fending for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) affected by the attacks in Southern Kaduna, especially the indigenous populations, were heavily on the families, religious institutions and individual donors.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr. Solomon Dogo, while condemning the statement by el-Rufai said the video has revealed the much-talked about Islamization agenda on ground.
This exit was greeted with the introduction of the maiden Southern Kaduna Cultural Festival (SKFEST) held mainly in the township stadium, Kafanchan, between 28 and 30 December 2023.
This was in honour of the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Gwabin Musa, an indigene of the area, selected by the new president, Bola Tinubu, who came in few months back, to take the position.
