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| Fulani herdsmen |
Gunmen
suspected to be Fulani herdsmen opened fire on a crowd of people at Yangal
village in Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing seven on
the spot and injuring 12 others.
The village
was thrown into mourning on Tuesday night, as the campaign train of Governor
Mukhtar Yero reached in the southern part of the state.
Among the
seven persons killed was an 87-year-old woman, simply identified as Mama Hauwa
Bello.
The acting
Chairman of Zango-Kataf Local Government Area, Mr. Jonathan Asake, who
confirmed the incident, told newsmen that he got a distress call at about 12am
on Wednesday that some armed Fulani men attacked a crowd of people in the
Yangal village.
Asake, also a
former member of the House of Representatives, said when he got to the scene of
the incident, he assisted in evacuating five corpses and 12 injured persons to
the St. Louis Hospital, Zonkwa, about 15 kilometres from Yangal village.
He said it
was unfortunate that the attack came when the governor’s campaign train was
slated to arrive the area on Thursday.
He said that
no arrest was made. According to him, before soldiers arrived the scene of the
attack, the gunmen had fled.
Asake said,
“I reached Yangal village this morning and met scores of angry, sticks-and
knife-wielding youths who wanted to descend on me for coming late. I was told
that an old woman had passed on and had been buried.
“According to
the villagers, two Fulani men were sighted around 9pm on Tuesday night around
the venue of the celebration. One with a gun and the other had nothing on him.
Not suspecting anything, the group went on with their cerebration.
“Then the
armed man opened fire on the crowd with his AK 47 rifle. He killed five people
on the spot and two later died in the hospital. I saw the corpses and those 12
that were injured. We evacuated them to the St. Luis Hospital. I left the
hospital around 5am this morning. Of those injured, nine were critically hit,
and we have taken them to a more equipped hospital in Jos, Plateau State.
“By the time
soldiers arrived the village, the two men had fled and the village was in
confusion.
“This is
calculated either to frustrate the governorship campaign of the Peoples
Democratic Party or it was a diversion to steal cows. Governor Mukhtar Ramalan
Yero is expected to arrive Zango Kataf, tomorrow (today) to continue with his
campaign tour, and we know how desperate the opposition are to unseat our
government by all means.”
Meanwhile,
Yero has condemned the killing, while campaigning in the southern part of the
state.
It was learnt
that rather than pay on-the-spot visit to the scene of the attack, the governor
mandated his deputy to visit the area and went ahead with his campaign in other
parts of the area (southern Kaduna).
The governor,
through his Director-General on Media and Public Affairs, Mallam Ahmed Mayaki,
said he was saddened by the development. He said the attack was an attempt by
miscreants to cause confusion and heighten tension in the state.
He called on
the people of the area and the entire state to remain calm while he directed
the State Emergency Management Agency to immediately move to the affected
community to provide the victims with the necessary support and assistance.
Yero also
commiserated with the victims’ families, just as he said the hospital bills of
those injured in the attack would be paid by the state government.
“It is rather
sad that some people will stop at nothing in achieving their selfish goals,
including shedding the blood of innocent citizens of the state,” he said.
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