Following renewed violence in two Local Government Areas in Southern Kaduna last weekend, the State Security Council has announced another 24-hour curfew in the affected areas namely: Jema’a and Kaura Local Government Areas, with immediate effect.
It was gathered that bandits attacked communities in the two local government areas between Sunday night and Monday morning, killing many and destroying houses.
The first attack reportedly took place around 5:30 Sunday evening at Bakin Kogi and Kaninkon villages located in Jema’a Local Government Area, but security officials were said to have repelled the attack before the assailants could cause major damage.
However, hours after the Jema’a attack, in the early hours of Monday,gunmen attacked Ashim village, Takad chiefdom of Kaura Local Government Area, killing 14 persons and injuring many others.
A statement issued on Tuesday by the Special Assistant to Governor Nasir El-Rufai on Media and Publicity, Samuel Aruwan, explained that imposing a curfew in the two LGAs was necessitated by the fact that lives and properties must be protected and the situation must not be allowed to further degenerate.
He noted that all the security agencies on special operation in the two Local Government Areas have been directed to ensure strict compliance to the curfew, adding that “only essential workers and those on humanitarian services are allowed movement after due clearance by security agencies.”
It would be recalled that the Garrison Commander of the 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Ismaila Isa, as well as the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Agyole Abeh, have relocated to Southern Kaduna.
The State Government announced on Monday that their relocation was to enable the Security chiefs to coordinate a determined response to the renewed attacks by armed bandits on communities in the two local governments.
The Southern Kaduna crisis has so far defiled all efforts by the government and religious bodies to bring the situation, which had claimed hundreds of lives, under control.