John Shiklam in Kaduna
The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), has condemned the killing of four people by gunmen in Zunuruk Village, Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Addressing a news conference friday in Kaduna, President of SOKAPU, Hon. Jonathan Asake, said the killings took place at about 6p.m. on Sunday, December 8, 2019.
He said the incident occurred at the end of an annual football tournament to foster unity among three communities in the area, which held at the LEA Primary School, Zunuruk.
He said, soon after the end of the football match, gunmen opened fire, killing four people on the spot while four others sustained injuries.
“By our independent findings, it was just when the last whistle was blown, signaling the end of the match around 6p.m. bullets were fired at the crowd by bandits whose identities and reason for the attack is yet to be unraveled.
“Within a few minutes, four able bodied young men, all married with children, lay cold dead in pools of their innocent blood. Four others were critically injured and were rushed to the nearby General Hospital in Kafanchan,” Asake said.
Those killed, according to him, include a 48-year-old Solomon Yohana, a teacher and father of five, who was the community’s football coach.
Others, according to him, include, Kefas Peter, 39, Felix John, 46 and Garba Barnabas, 37 said to have fled from his Zankan village to Zunuruk as a survivor of herdsmen invasions of his community in Takad Chiefdom.
Asake said, a day before the Zunuruk attack, one Dogara Kazah, was killed in Agban Gida, Kagoro, near a military checkpoint.
The SOKAPU President said further that “in the past three weeks four people were killed by gunmen in Agban, Kagoro.
“We have been told by wary and frightened villagers on the Kagoro-Gidan Waya flanks that they have been enduring severe suppression, molestation and extortion before they harvest their crops.
“Those who have farms far from their communities are forced to surrender parts of their crops to serve as fodders for herdsmen’s cows to graze. Failure to do so results in untold consequences.
“Also, the Kagoro – Gidan Waya road has become a hotbed for armed robbery and banditry especially on market days.”
Asake said the communities were pointing accusing fingers at a certain mobile police Sargent, resident in Zunuruk, for alleged involvement in criminal activities in the affected communities.
He commended the deployment of a special force of the military to the affected communities and called on the communities to network with all security agencies to ensure security of lives and property.
