Southern Kaduna Genocide And The Silence Of Arewa, By Buhari Olamrewaju Ahmed 

A miserable journey of almost 8 years has ended the lives of thousands in a single grave. People’s homes have become graveyards where tears and sorrows resurface at the slightest scene of provocation.

The religious bias and stereotype against a certain group is seen as a minority that has nothing to offer.

Political exclusion, strangulation of education, poverty and underdevelopment with the lack of intervention of traditional leaders in Southern Kaduna, represent a major factor that contributed to the escalation of crisis in the region.

The manifestation of evil perpetrated by the so-called Fulani herdsmen with a decade of silence from the Arewa Consultative Forum [ACF] has shown a clear sign that the agenda of silencing and killing of the “minority” by the perpetrators is sponsored by the powerful people in the region.

Arewa Consultative Forum has never been remorseful nor has it publicly condemned these heinous crimes. It has only stage-managed and called for media coverages for political businesses, whilst it remains unmoved and totally unconcerned about the killings of the Southern Kaduna people who to them are inconsequential.

Governor El-Rufai has not only shown his incompetence over his inability to stop the killings but encourages his kinsmen to unleash more terror against the people of Southern Kaduna.

People have been rendered hopeless, hundreds have vacated their ancestral homes and become refugees in other people’s land. Meanwhile, some children have become orphans, their education has been waylaid and murdered at a tender stage. The agony and hatred against the tribe that slaughtered their parents will never be erased from their memory. Never!

The evil agenda of turning people against people has been manifested and successfully achieved. The whole region has not known peace because they have been segregated and neglected for decades.

The recent killings In Runji village of Zango Kataf where 33 people including children were killed, is unacceptable, especially with the disturbing attitude of the Chief Security Officer of the state – Governor El-Rafai. Almost 40 houses were burnt down by the killer Fulani herdsmen who invaded the community overnight.

Zango Kataf has become a hotbed of tit-for-tat flare between the bloodsuckers and Christians in the region.

Despite the purported outburst of Governor El-Rufai, in recent times Southern Kaduna has turned into a war zone and a nightmare to its inhabitants.

Innocent people have paid the ultimate price whilst Arewa’s leaders have surprisingly lost their vociferous voice in the face of these wanton killings.

No measure has been activated by Northern leaders [who are clearly unconcerned about the incessant killings] to console grieving families of the so-called minority in the zone. And no measure has also been taken to put a stop to the killings.

Southern Kaduna people are predominantly farmers, but due to the killings, farming activities have come to a halt and many people have been displaced with no aid from the state and federal governments.

A sheep that desires to howl like a wolf should also be prepared for the hunter’s arrow.

Arewa leaders have a responsibility to stop feigning ignorance of the ethnic and religious cleansing taking place under their noses and work in active collaboration with the state and federal governments to intensify efforts to permanently stop the killings and restore peace in the affected areas.

Actions beckon on reactions, choices always come with their consequences, and those whose consciences have been stolen by the fortune of political benefits will one day be consumed by the fire they refuse to quench during the rainy season.