Man shot dead on farmland as southern Kaduna boils again

Peter Magayaki, a resident of southern Kaduna, was on Wednesday shot dead while working on his farmland.

Yakubu Kuzamani, spokesman of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday.

Aliyu Usman, spokesman of the Kaduna police command, did not confirm or deny the incident.

“Can you please call back in the next 30 minutes?” he told TheCable.

But Kuzamani called on security agencies to put a stop to “isolated killings” in the area.

Fulani herdsmen have been accused of carrying out killings in Zangon-Kataf, Kaura and Jema’a local government areas of the state.

“We call on the security agencies to intensify their efforts so that the isolated killings of our people in their farms, such as that of Mr. Peter Magayaki of Bakin Kogi, who was shot to death on his farm on Wednesday 1st, March 2017, will be a thing of the past,” the statement by Kuzamani read.

“These steps and initiatives taken by the security agencies involved in these exercises are commendable. Since the outbreak of these mindless attacks on our communities, this is what we have been asking for and it’s heartwarming to see our security personnel beginning to go into the bushes.

“Their decision to take the fight right to the armed terrorists who have made camps in the bushes around some of our communities is indeed gratifying and an assurance to us that with such proactive measures, our displaced people will soon start sleeping in their destroyed villages with their two eyes closed and resuming their farming activities.”

He expressed optimism that security agencies would completely flush out those who have been carrying out attacks on the locals in the affected parts of southern Kaduna.

“Also, heartwarming is the collaboration between the security personnel and local vigilantes which manifested through shared information when Rafin Dadi in Kaninkon chiefdom was attacked on February 27, 2017, leading to the terrorists being repelled,” he said.

“Our youths complete knowledge of the terrain around their communities remain an asset to the security agencies, and we appeal for more synergy between the security agencies and local vigilantes in other communities under the threats of attack in southern Kaduna.

“Furthermore, our religious leaders are leading their followers in this lent period to pray assiduously for the success of this new synergy.”