Barely two days after Governor Elrufai spoke against the lynching of two “herdsmen” in Kaduna state, the Birnin-Gwari Emirate Progressive Union (BEPU) has come out to clarify the circumstances surrounding the killing.
According to the Kaduna state government, two herders were forcefully seized from security personnel by a mob in Birnin Gwari local government and killed over unsubstantiated claims that they were linked with banditry.
Governor El-Rufai had in a statement on Sunday condemned the killing and directed that investigation be launched into the incident to fish out the culprits and make them face the full wrath of the law
However, the Birnin-Gwari Emirate group in a counter-claim contained in its statement released on Monday, said its findings revealed that the mob action occurred after the victims forcefully snatched a motorcycle from a farmer on the outskirts of Birnin-Gwari town.
According to the statement signed by BEPU chairman, Ishaq Usman Kasai, available records which the union is privy to, “shows that the lynched ‘herders’ were terrorist mercenaries from the Republic of Sudan.”
A foreign identification card on one of the lynched persons indicated that they were from the Republic of Sudan. It bore the “Khartoum International Centre for Human Rights,” with a passport-size photo of one of the lynched men.
“While the lynching of suspected bandits is highly condemnable, the Union observes with deep concern the way the issue has been reported to selectively and deliberately portray Birnin Gwari in the bad taste, and targeted to prove a false narrative on the issue to endanger the helplesss innocent citizens of Birnin-Gwari Local Government.”
“While we appreciate government resolve to investigate and bring perpetrators of this primitive act to book, we equally observe that Government officials seem to be so in haste in issuing the sensitive statement without the scrutiny of the identities of the ‘alleged herders’ that were lynched by mob action”. The statement said
