‘Over 50 corpses’ recovered as bandits sack villages in Kaduna

At least 50 corpses have reportedly been recovered from attacks in villages across Igabi local government area of Kaduna state.

In an interview with VOA Hausa monitored by TheCable, a local security guard said the attacks happened in the early hours of Sunday.

He said the attackers set many vehicles and houses on fire and also burnt some corpses.

According to the guard, the gunmen first stormed Marina village in the local government where they killed many persons before moving to Kerawa.

“We came under attack very early on Sunday morning. There is a village called Marina, the gunmen first sacked the village. There is no single person there right now. They killed so many people, including children. So far we have over 50 corpses,” he said.

“They operated unchallenged for over three hours ; there was no any security person that came. They burnt houses, foodstuff and vehicles. They also burnt those who were killed. They abducted people. We know their hideout and we have been complaining about them. We are appealing to government to help us by addressing this problem.”

Daiyibu Kerawa, councillor representing Kerawa, also lamented over the attack, calling for assistance.

“At about 6am on Sunday, gunmen stormed Marina, they surrounded the village and killed children, including Almajiri, as well as the old. They shot them and burnt them. They were going house to house. There is a man whose grain of maize was burnt, they killed him, they killed his wife and children as well,” he said.

In Kerawa alone, we have over 50 corpses that are yet to be buried. We are calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to come to the aide of Igabi local government. We are overwhelmed by these attacks. Buhari should send security personal to help us. They attacked 13 villages, they did not carry anything, they just killed and burnt places.”

Reacting to the incident, Shehu Sani, a former senator, said the north has become a “region of endless funerals and perpetual bereavement”.

Sani accused the elite of not doing enough to secure the region, adding: “the north must wake up,buckle up or perish.”

“When our people are repeatedly and tragically killed or abducted and we speak out,the only response that comes from the Government and it’s hired agents is that we are ‘politicizing the issue of security’,” he said.

“Killings and kidnappings has become a daily occurrences in Kaduna,Katsina,Zamfara and Niger state. Northern Governors are still playing the ostrich,afraid of confronting the federal Government and taking independent action to protect their people while the killings and the kidnappings goes on.

“Bandits in the North have become a state; they impose fines and taxes, send notices, control spaces, determine life and death and operate without much challenge.

“Banditry has further impoverished the North and turned it into a cemetery. The lives of ordinary people in the north has become cheap, dispensable, disposable and ordinary.

“Northern Governors must come out with a regional security outfit to protect their people or continue to wait for Godot.The level of insecurity in the north has become infectious to the country and contagious to the west African sub-region.”

Mohammed Jalinge, spokesman of the Kaduna police command, could not be reached for comments as of the time this report was filed as his telephone line was out of reach.

TheCable gathered that Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, and Ali Janga, the state’s commissioner of police, are currently on their way to the Kerawa.

Kaduna is one of the states across the country which records cases of kidnappings and frequent killings.