The death toll of the Saturday afternoon raid by suspected bandits at Gwaska in Birnin-Gwair Local Government Area of Kaduna State has risen from 27 to 45 yesterday.
The Birnin-Gwari Vanguards for Security and Good Governance said no fewer than 45 bodies were recovered by vigilantes and volunteers with the assistance of soldiers on Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Government confirmed the attack on the Gwaska Village.
While condemning the incessant attacks on the people of Birnin-Gwari, the state governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai said that a Battalion of the Nigerian Army would be put permanently in the area to check the killings.
El-Rufai condoled with the people of the Birnin-Gwari Emirate Council, following fatal attacks on the people of the area.
According to the governor who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Samuel Aruwan on Sunday said to contain the situation, the government said that the military would be stationing a permanent Army battalion in Birnin-Gwari.
In the statement, the Governor expressed concern over the incessant banditry and has been engaging the Federal Government on the matter.
He directed the State Emergency Management Agency to provide relief materials with immediate effect to the affected communities.
“The Kaduna State Government has received with sadness reports of the murder of our citizens by armed bandits in Birnin Gwari. The government has sent a message of condolence to the people of Birnin Gwari Emirate.
“Kaduna State Government is deeply committed to overcoming the unfortunate criminality and banditry being carried out against innocent citizens in Birnin Gwari local government.
Meanwhile, the governor of Taraba State, Arc. Darius Ishaku, weekend described as false and misleading, claims by President Muhammadu Buhari that Fulani herdsmen don’t move around with AK-47 rifles but sticks and machetes.
The President had made this claim during his bilateral meeting with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, in Washington DC, last week.
“The problem of herders in Nigeria is a very long historical thing. The Nigerian herders don’t carry anything more than a stick and occasionally a matchete to cut down foliage and give it to their animals, these ones are carrying AK-47,” President Buhari had said in defense of killer herdsmen.
However, speaking to journalists at a special awards dinner organised in Abuja by the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Governor Ishaku insisted that it couldn’t have been imaginary that farmers were killed with AK-47 rifles in their clash with herdsmen in Taraba and Benue states.
“It’s absolutely wrong for the President to say herdsmen don’t move around with guns.
I mean, who then kills who? It couldn’t have been imaginary that people have been killed with AK-47 in the farmers-herdsmen clashes. “We simply have to stand up to the truth and do something to stop the killings,” he said.
On the effects of the recurrent clashes between farmers and herdsmen on the health sector in Taraba, Governor Ishaku who bagged an award of excellent service in the health sector at the ocassion, said:
“The current insecurity has put a lot of pressure on our health facilities much more than we anticipated. We already have between 100,000 to 150,000 persons displaced as a result of the clashes.
“Taraba was relatively peaceful before now, and unarguably the safest state in the Northeast. But today, we we are having our own share of the herdsmen problem and that has strained our health systems. Which means, we have to do more in the sector by injecting more funds and employing more doctors and specialists.”
He further expressed his delight over the NMA award and said it will not only deepen his commitment towards helping Tarabans live more healthy lives but also spur him on to do more more in revamping the state’s health sector.
Reacting to the spate of killings, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Samson Ayokunle, has informed the Federal Government to expect more protests from the Christian community against persistent killings in the country.
Ayokunle, who was speaking, yesterday, in Ibadan, Oyo State, on the success of the nationwide protest held last week across churches in Nigeria, hailed the media for being transparent.
He explained that the protests took place in church premises to avoid hoodlums hijacking the peaceful process.
The CAN President, however, vowed that the protests would be sustained as long as the killings in the nation persist.
He said, “This government should expect more protests from CAN for as long as the killings of innocent souls continue in this country.
“There are some other people who will still protest this Sunday (yesterday) because the information got to them late; so, they could not observe it last Sunday. We have told them it must be peaceful and within their communities,” Ayokunle said.
The CAN boss wondered how the herdsmen keep outsmarting the security agencies in all their attacks.
He added, “Our concern now is that it appears as if the insurgents, herdsmen and so on appear to be better trained than our own security agencies.
“Why should the killers continue to beat the intelligence of our security agencies? How are they succeeding in attacking soft targets all over Nigeria and the security agencies cannot outsmart them? Why has it been impossible for them to arrest them?” Ayekunle queried.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 27 persons have been reportedly killed and several houses set ablaze after suspected bandits attacked Gwaska village in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, last Saturday.
The attack came barely a week after nine local miners were killed by gunmen at Janruwa village in Brinin Gwari.
It was gathered that armed bandits, who reportedly came in from Zamfara State, surrounded Gwaska up to Kuiga village around 2.30pm, and killed nine persons, mostly children.
The attackers were said to have also burnt down about 3,000 inhabitants in the village and survivors mostly women were taking refuge at Doka district in the area.
Members of the local government under the umbrella of the Birnin Gwari Vanguards for Peace and Good Governance said most of those killed are volunteers that tried to defend the village and children that cannot escape the onslaught.
“We called on the authorities to take urgent steps to forestall further attacks and extinction of communities in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State,” a member of the community said.
Another who pleaded anonymity said, “The gunmen came in from Zamfara State axis. They attacked and killed many people, mostly children. They also completely burnt down many houses in Gwaska village where they spent over three hours.
“The survivors escaped to Doka village and the injured ones have been taken to Birnin Gwari hospital.”
When contacted on phone for confirmation of the latest incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mukhtar Aliyu did not answer calls put across to his phone at the time of filing this report.