Southern Kaduna genocide

The immediate origins of the Genocidal killings in Southern Kaduna especially in the 2010s and early 2020s can be traced to the events that brought in Goodluck Jonathan into power in 2010 as the President of Nigeria, and escalated after the Presidential election in 2011 which he won.

Background

It could be recounted that during the 2011 Nigerian presidential election campaign aired on the Nation television, the NTA, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) candidate, Muhammadu Buhari while addressing a crowd in Kano in the Hausa language, called for mass violence as the crowd cheered. In his exact words as captured by TheCable thus,

“Ku fita ku yi zabe. Ku Kasa, ku tsare, ku raka ku tsaya. Duk wanda bai yarda ba, ku halaka shi.”

The subtitles captured in the video had the following words,

“Firstly, you must register, come out and vote. You guard, protect, escort to the collation centre and you wait until the result is counted. Anyone who stops you, kill them!!! (Crowd chants wildly.)”

Even though Buhari's supporters tried to give another meaning to this statement, the reality was seen after the election was lost to Jonathan.

The violence that erupted after Jonathan's victory in 2011 spread across the northern states of Nigeria with over 65,000 said to be displaced as a result. Although Kaduna State had seen crises in the past, they seem to have escalated during this period in time.

In the 2011 Kaduna State gubernatorial election, Patrick Yakowa emerged as the first Christian and Southern Kaduna indigene to be elected as governor of Kaduna State. He had earlier served as governor after the sitting governor, Namadi Sambo was picked by Goodluck Jonathan to become the Vice President of Nigeria following the death of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua in 2010. Muslim leaders in the state were not happy and threatened to resist the elevation of a Christian as governor of Kaduna State.

Yakowa's tenure was not to last long as his life was to be ended in 2012. His deputy, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero took over as governor of Kaduna State after he was killed in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa State alongside the Chief of Army Staff, Owoye Andrew Azazi. Yakowa's death was later discovered to have been plotted by an Islamic cleric, Isa Pantami (who would later 2019–2023 serve as a minister in the Buhari government), and some Northern Muslim leaders in 2010, who saw having Yakowa, a Christian, as governor of Kaduna State as "an insult to Islam in the country". The Taraba State governor, Danbaba Suntai also faced same attack but narrowly escaped.

Yero's tenure was marred with attacks by "unknown gunmen" (later discovered to be Fulani herdsmen) in the Southern Kaduna area, causing him to be unpopular among the people. This is in addition to his unpopular choice of Nuhu Bajoga as deputy governor. Southern Kaduna vowed to vote out governor Yero and president Jonathan in the 2015 gubernatorial and presidential elections, due to their insensitive to the killings by Fulani gunmen in the region.

In the 2015 Kaduna State gubernatorial election, Nasir el-Rufai of the APC defeated Mukhtar Ramalan Yero of the PDP.

El-Rufai picked Barnabas Bala Bantex as running mate. In spite of the rumors about the two not getting along, el-Rufai denied that their relationship was cordial. Bantex resigned in 2019 to contest for the senate of Kaduna South senatorial district under APC which he lost to the sitting senator, Danjuma Laah, of the PDP. In the 2019 Kaduna State gubernatorial election, el-Rufai selected a Muslim woman, Hadiza Balarabe from Southern Kaduna, as running mate under the APC. This was the first a Muslim-Muslim ticket would be experimented in Kaduna State since the return of democracy 1999. He, however, defended his choice saying the government house is neither a mosque nor a church.

Paying of Fulani terrorists “to stop killing”

In December 2016, in an open interview the Kaduna State governor, Nasir Ahmed Musa el-Rufai confessed to paying some Fulanis across the Sahel countries to stop killing Southern Kaduna indigenes due to the grievances erupting from the killing of their cattles in the 2011 post election crisis in the state. During that period, the governor said 204 people lost their lives while the Catholic Church in Kaduna State said 808 people were killed by the armed bandits.

In response to the above, the sitting senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial District, Danjuma Laah, said there was never a time in 2011 that Fulanis in those Sahel countries mentioned by the governor such as Niger, Mali, Chad and others were killed with their cattle in the Southern Kaduna as the area is not a converging point for those countries and called el-Rufai’s claim a lie. According to him,

“The Governor just invented this lie to make excuse for his imported murderous Fulani kindred to continue their extermination of our people and the occupation of our lands."

In April 2021, el-Rufai made a turn-around and said anyone caught negotiating with bandits would be severely dealt with.

Grazing reserves in Southern Kaduna

The governor, el-Rufai, proposed to create cattle grazing reserves for the Fulanis in 16 separate locations in the state on 180,000 hectares of land and Southern Kaduna was to provide 130,000 hectares in six locations viewed as being strategic. The Southern Kaduna Peoples’ Union (SOKAPU) points on this plan as a cause for the immediate crises, but the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) denied this claim.

According to the SOKAPU President, Dr. Musa Kaptain Solomon,

“SOKAPU is standing on this assertion based on the genesis of the ongoing killings. As soon as the government of Nasir el-Rufai announced plans which he said was to resuscitate what he claimed were old grazing reserves in Southern Kaduna, we resisted. We already had a normal relationship in which Fulani graze cattle in our communities’ lands free-of-charge and they were normal parts of our communities. They graze their cattle as usual, leave during the seasonal migration, and return when they like. We keep their belongings safely until their return. Forget about the unfortunate 2011 crisis, which was ignited by CPC thugs in Kaduna, Zaria, Zonkwa, Kafanchan and so on. That was a politically motivated issue, and had no relationship with grazing…”

It should be noted that in June 2016, Southern Kaduna in its entirety through the SOKAPU kicked against this plan as it was viewed with suspicious motives which would allocate an additional 5,000 hectares to the Federal Government for the same grazing reserve for the Fulanis making 17 in all. The SOKAPU also claims that between 2011-2016, over 4,000 people lost their lives in 54 documented attacks.

Arrest of journalists for criticizing the regime

On 27 April 2016, a Kaduna-based journalist, Jacob Onjewu Dickson, a reporter for Authentic News Daily, a news website, got arrested. He reportedly wrote a report stating that the Kaduna State governor, el-Rufai, was pelted with rocks by youths on a peace-brokering mission.

On 26 October 2016, a public commentator and former Kaduna State University lecturer, John Danfulani, got arrested over his Facebook post criticizing Nasir el-Rufai's government and detained for 13 days.

In July 2017, Luka Binniyat, the SOKAPU spokesman joined the list of journalists to be arrested and detained by the Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, for criticizing his approach to handling the attacks on Southern Kaduna. He spent over 100 days in detention and was released in October 2017.

On 8 May 2019, another journalist, Stephen Kefas, was arrested by the Police in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and later transferred to Kaduna based on “orders from above”. His offense was reposting a post on Facebook made by Sahara Reporters on the kidnap and murder of the Agom Adara, HRH Raphael Maiwada Galadima. He was remanded in the Kaduna prison. There was a protest staged for his release by three groups, with some protesters labeling the act tyrannic.

On 4 November 2021, Luka Binniyat was again arrested in his office in the SOKAPU secretariat in Kaduna, after his report of 28 October 2021, on the US news website, The Epoch Times, again on the Kaduna State government’s way of tackling the killings in Southern Kaduna. The Committee to Protect Journalists also urged the Nigerian government to "immediately and unconditionally release Luka Binniyat and drop all charges against him on November 15, 2021. He was, however, released on 3 February 2022.

Other human rights abuses by el-Rufai were listed by the human rights campaigner and lawyer, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu.

Renaming of chiefdoms and creation of emirates in Southern Kaduna; and arrests, kidnap and murder of Southern Kaduna traditional rulers

In March 2017, the B’gwam Akurmi, HRH Ishaku S. Damina, was arrested by The Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai over an unclear reason. The Akurmi youths took to the media to demand for his release.

In October 2017, Daily Trust reported the plans to restructure 32 chiefdoms and emirates in Kaduna State, out of which 13 chiefdoms and emirates in the central and southern senatorial districts of the state would be renamed. Earlier in June of that year, 313 districts and 4,453 village heads were reportedly sacked by the el-Rufai administration with the excuse of lessening the financial burden posed by the local government councils. This reform led to the reverting to the pre-2001 77 districts and 1,429 village units at the time of the deregulation of the traditional institution by the the-governor, Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi. The affected institutions, however, challenged this decision in court.

In the early hours of January 1, 2018, the Etum Numana, HRH Gambo Makama, and his pregnant wife were attacked and killed in their home in Arak village, Sanga LGA. The chief’s 45 year-old son sustained injuries.

On 3 January 2018, the Agom Akulu, HRH Yohanna Sidi Kukah, chief of the Akulu Chiefdom, was also kidnapped by some unknown gunmen. The chief is a younger brother of the Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah. He was, however, released a few days later.

In June 2018, a former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, and the founder of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), Dr. Frederick Fasehun, tackled el-Rufai, on the decision to convert some chiefdoms to emirates in the state. This resulted from the letter titled “Review of Nomenclature of the “ addressed to the Chief of Kauru, written on May 30, 2018, in which the governor directed the chief, HRH Alhaji Ja’afaru Abubakar, to refer to himself as an emir. The letter states,

“I am directed to inform you that you are to be respectfully addressed as the Emir of Kauru Emirate Council. Kindly accept the esteemed regards of the commissioner at all times.”

The motive behind this was questioned and termed unconstitutional. The OPC leader also commended the joint resolution by the Nigerian National Assembly to sanction President Muhammadu Buhari over his attitude towards the ongoing killings in parts of that country. In October 2018, the Agom Adara, HRH Dr. Raphael Maiwada Galadima, was kidnapped alongside his wife and driver at Maikyali village along the Kaduna-Kachia road on his way back to his palace in Kachia after accompanying el-Rufai to Kasuwan Magani to an attack site. The wife and driver of the chief were later released while the chief remained in the kidnappers’ den. Sahara Reporters reported that the kidnappers of the chief said before he was murdered,

“Even if they pay your ransom, we will still kill you; that is the order we have."

His murder was said to be the result of his refusal of the governor’s plan to balkanize the Adara Chiefdom to accommodate a Kajuru Emirate.

In July 2021, the Kpop Ham, HRH Jonathan Gyet Maude, was also kidnapped.

Other name changes included the Atyap Chiefdom being renamed Zangon Kataf Chiefdom and its ruler demoted to a second class status. This change affected other chiefdoms as well. Some other chiefdoms were split to make way for newer chiefdoms and emirates in contradiction to the governor’s excuse of cost reduction earlier given for the reduction of the numbers of districts and village wards per traditional council.

Demand for Hausa-Fulani chiefdoms

In August 2020, there was also a demand for chiefdoms by Fulani groups, led by the Chief Imam of Kafanchan, Kabir Kasim. He claimed most of the major towns in Southern Kaduna were founded by the "Hausa-Fulani" whom he claimed are the largest single ethnic group in the area, and are often viewed as targets. He added that Southern Kaduna was founded by a Fulani tribe called the Kachechere and that other Southern Kaduna groups were migrants from northern states of Nigeria. He again said,

“We hereby debunk the claims of the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU) of its personal interest that its members are the only indigenes of Southern Kaduna. Happily. the constitution of the country is seriously against the indigene/settler dichotomy,”

He, thereafter, demanded that a law should be enacted to stop the calling of Hausa and Fulanis settlers in Southern Kaduna.

These demands have, however, been rejected by Southern Kaduna indigenous communities, represented by the SOKAPU President, Jonathan Asake, who in his response with Sahara Reporters, said the governor's agenda was to embark on ethnic cleansing in Southern Kaduna which has encouraged such demands by the Fulani community. He added,

"They can go and claim Kano because most of these people causing these havoc come from Kano, Sokoto, Katsina and Jigawa. They are not indigenes of Southern Kaduna. El-Rufai is giving them the latitude to cause this problem when they said they want their own chiefdom. It is not chiefdom, it is emirate they are looking for. I want to let him know that before him there were governors and after him there will be governors who will bring peace we need in Kaduna State."

Attacks on Southern Kaduna villages, curfew impositions and killings with impunity by Fulani terrorists

World Press Conference organized by the Atyap Community Development Association (ACDA) on May 1, 2023

In July 2020, Fulani chieftains represented by the MACBAN said there were 3,099 Fulani IDPs in Southern Kaduna. They also reported missing persons and lost animals.

As of 30 October 2020, at least 100 Southern Kaduna villages were under Fulani occupation according to SOKAPU. There had been incessant attacks across four Southern Kaduna LGAs since Nasir el-Rufai came in as governor of Kaduna State. These include Chikun, Kajuru, Kachia and Zangon Kataf. The pattern had been that of the killing of the indigenous population and replacement with the Fulani population. Other affected LGAs include Kaura, Kauru and Jema'a. It should be noted that after an attack by the terrorists on the indigenous communities, curfews were usually imposed by the state government and that gives room for further killings. Some of the killings especially in the Zangon Kataf axis were allude to the 1992 Zangon Kataf crises, like in the case of 30 year-old Yusuf, an Atyap young man, whose mutilated body was found at the bank of the Kaduna River on June 10, 2020.

Whenever youths from communities protest the act, they get arrested and detained while the killers go undetected. In August 2020, Southern Kaduna youths in Kaduna, Abuja and Lagos went out peacefully to protest the killings which they termed as “genocide”. Some youths got arrested in Kaduna by the police over the excuse of not informing the authorities of their plans.

In March 2021, soldiers opened fire on women peacefully protesting the indiscriminate arrests of their children in Atyap Chiefdom, killing one woman and injuring many others.

Atyapland in particular, had been under constant Fulani terror attacks between 2020 to early 2023, but the Hausa community in the Zangon Urban district had distanced itself from in spite of allegations levelled against it by the ACDA of harbouring Fulani terrorists in the settlement. In less than 24 hours before leaving office, el-Rufai proscribed the ACDA, calling it an illegal entity.

Unequal humanitarian treatment

The responsibility of fending for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) affected by the attacks in Southern Kaduna, especially the indigenous populations, were heavily on the families, religious institutions and individual donors. The government and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) most times failed to extend the same concern to indigenous Southern Kaduna IDPs as they would to other IDPs elsewhere in the state.

Muslim-Muslim ticket

In June 2023 after his tenure as governor, Nasir el-Rufai was known to have made a statement while addressing Islamic clerics on the imposition of a Muslim governor and Muslim deputy governor on Kaduna State as an experiment to be replicated in Nigeria at the Federal government level. He made the statement in Hausa and was transcribed to English, afterwards.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr. Solomon Dogo, while condemning the statement by el-Rufai said the video has revealed the much-talked about Islamization agenda on ground. He added,

“His eight years in power as governor, characterised with massive killings and decimation of Christian-dominated areas of Southern Kaduna, can now be understood.”

Impact on indigenous cultural bonding

In the aspect of culture, most Southern Kaduna cultural festivals usually celebrated towards the end of the year had been halted with lasts held between late 2019 and early 2020. These festivities only resumed with the exit of the Nasir el-Rufai regime on 29 May 2023. This exit saw the was greeted with introduction of the maiden Southern Kaduna Cultural Festival (SKFest) held mainly in the township stadium, Kafanchan, in December 2023.

The Agwatyap’s Buffet was also held in the Agwatyap's palace, Atak Njei, Zangon Kataf, on 31 December 2023. This was in honour of the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, Christopher Gwabin Musa, an indigene of the area, selected by the new President, Bola Tinubu, who came in few months back to take the position. This was greeted by the people with excitement. On the same day, the Nom Bajju annual cultural festival celebration also resumed in Zonkwa after being celebrated last 18 years back, in 2005.

On 1 January 2024, the town of Gworog saw the comeback of the Afan National Festival, last celebrated in 2020.

In March 2024, the Khituk Gwong was held in Kagoma, and the Tuk-Ham in Kwain. These festivities are a way of preserving the people's cultures, building friendship and helping their languages remain.