About 245 residents were killed and 623 houses burnt in in Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State since 2020 according to the paramount ruler of the Atyap Chiefdom, Agwatyap, Dominic Yahaya,
The monarch was speaking during the commemoration of the 2022 International Peace Day organized by the Liturgy and Social Justice in Kaduna at the Kaduna Catholic Social Centre on Wednesday
According to him, “The reoccurring attacks have become most distressful and disturbing, as the alleged killers who are known to have lived among the communities will often call their victims to notify them of their mission to kill, before committing dastardly acts on the innocent and harmless farmers.
“The genesis, which many considered premeditated started in early 2019 when isolated individual killings of farmers by suspected Fulani herdsmen within our midst became rampant and before we knew what was happening about 14 such incidences had occurred.
He said security agents were grossly inadequate to handle the situation in the villages as the attacks in some cases occurred simultaneously. Adding that it could have been worse if the security agents were not there. He said with nowhere to go, the communities have turned to God.
The monarch called for the immediate establishment of local community policing to complement the efforts of the Nigerian Police Force and other security agencies.
He also called for the enactment of laws that will recognize the state vigilante’s services.
Killings and kidnappings by terrorists occur frequently in Zango Kataf Local Government Area and other towns in Kaduna state, Nigeria.
While some of the killings in Kaduna are by terror groups operating as bandits in the region, others are due to ethnoreligious conflicts in parts of the state.
In January, the Kaduna state government announced that at least 387 lives were lost to communal clashes in Kauru and Zangon Kataf Local Government Areas of Kaduna State in 2020 and 2021.
