Southern kaduna killings, the trial of yakowa and the future of nigeria. (pdf) by smaikudi

S o u t h e r n K a d u n a M a s s a c r e , Y a k o w a a n d t h e F u t u r e o f N i g e r i a Page 1
Southern Kaduna Massacre, the Trial of Yakowa and the Future of Nigeria I.
By Alhaji Sanusi Maikudi, Dan „Iyan Jema‟a, No 55b Kano Street P.O. Box 239, Kafanchan, Kaduna State.
Gsm +234 803 726 2257. E-Mail sanusihmaikudi@yahoo.com.
i. Introduction.
The moral deficiency, philosophical barrenness and crass subjectivity of public discourse in Nigeria have for
a long time reduced public commentary into an instrument of propaganda, self-seeking sycophancy and
cheap black mail. It is common to find uninformed foot soldiers, hired guns and hired pens busy doing the
bidding of their masters. The masters of temporal gods of power and ill-gotten wealth are worshiped by
sycophants while several patriots are intimidated by severe pains and disappointment of underdevelopment
and injustice into unhelpful silence as our dear country descends into a Failed State resulting from poor
quality of the leadership inflicted on us in all facets of our national lives.
In spite of the above it would be wrong to allow the unsolicited revelation by Mr. Yohanna Allahmagani, the
Principal Private Secretary to the Kaduna State Governor Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa that “the Kaduna State
Government has spent about Ten Billion Naira on the security of lives and property of the „people‟ following
the Post Election crises that erupted in April” to escape scrutiny. The Claim would certainly arouse the
interest and curiosity of the over Eleven Thousands Internally Displaced Persons languishing in penury in
particular, the Kaduna State Voters, the anti corruption agencies such as the EFCC & ICPC and the Nigerian
Public in general.
No one should be surprised by the audacity with which Mr. Yohanna Allahmagani spoke, as the Principal
Private Secretary to the Kaduna State Governor, he is strategically placed in the hierarchy of the State
Governance structure and is the clearing house of all correspondences and memoranda to and from the
Governor both routine and emergent. All attempts to dispute his assertion are afterthoughts aimed at face
saving measures after an involuntary exposure of the scandal.
This claim, to put it mildly, is not only laughable but suspicious that such a huge sum is spent on the
aftermath of a crisis while its primary victims are totally abandoned without any form of support from the
State since June 2011 and not a single building destroyed in the crisis is reconstructed anywhere in the state.
It is, in reality, even criminal and callously inhuman to use the crisis as an avenue to siphoning the resources
of the State under the guise of maintaining peace. To spend about Three Hundred Million Naira per month
on the security that only covers the perpetrators of the genocide while the innocents suffer is a monumental
fraud and a further demonstration that Yakowa‟s perception of governance is skewed, selective and partisan.
As a keen observer, I have long suspected that the promise of Good Governance in Kaduna State under
Yakowa is but a hallow rhetoric aimed at swaying the ordinary citizen to believe that this government is
truly a government of the people for the people by the people (Nakowa) while in reality, Kaduna State had
never had it so bad. The incompetence, insensitivity and irresponsibility of Yakowa‟s regime is well
manifested already even to the most charitable friends of his government including this writer; this is largely
resulting from the single minded pursuit of a parochial ethno-religious agenda as the paradigm of
governance.
It is generally believed in religious circles that whenever God elevate someone in status that person is put on
trial by God to determine whether he would be grateful to do God‟s bidding or he would be ungrateful to do
his heart‟s or the devil‟s bidding. While in religious circles judgments of trials are reserved for the day of
resurrection but in the temporal domain such as in governance trials are regular as soon as the need arise
except when powerful individuals, groups or institutions use their influence to delay or subvert the cause of
justice.

A Nigerian Citizen Killed and set on Fire, Where is the Governor that took an oath to Protect the lives and Property
of Kaduna State Subjects?.
Trial of persons found wanting in position of public trust is an integral part of human civilization codified in
Constitutions, laws and Codes of conduct but national and sub national. In Nigeria for instance since the
return to civilian rule in 1999 we have witnessed the trial of several political heavy weights whose actions or
inactions warrant them to be so tried. I pity Yakowa who in his old age and greatest moment of glory would
inevitably have to face double trial initially from the victims who suffered from his negligence of duty and
ultimately at the incorruptible court of God who divinely saddled him with honor of being a Governor only
to turn round and obey the bidding of the devil.
His Excellency Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa „Nakowa‟ deserved to face trial on earth for a number of reasons.
He has questions to answer principally for failing as the Chief Security Officer of Kaduna State and the
custodian of the lucrative Security Votes to ensure the protection of the lives and properties of the people
mass murdered in Kaduna State in April. 2011, for not ensuring that the perpetrators are arrested and brought
to book for over eight months after the crisis and for carelessly allowing his remaining lean reputation to
evaporate at a time he needs it most, for leaving his unsolicited admirers disappointed and for discounting his
exceptional education, experience and exposure in the conduct of his duties as a ground breaking Governor
from Southern Kaduna Senatorial Zone.
The actions, pronouncements and body language of Sir Patrick Yakowa so far have demonstrated that his
government is not keen on addressing the premeditated genocide of about a thousand Muslims and the
massive destruction of their properties in twenty five towns and villages of Southern Kaduna on account of
their ethno-religious background. This is a clear betrayal of his Oath of Office and a pointer to colossal moral
deficit his regime and his personality has degenerated into.
One is not left with option but to call for the immediate trial of Yakowa not because I lost three Grandparents
aged 94, 85 and 78years respectively, two uncles, seven cousins and many neighbors, at Matsirga and
countless compatriots and friends at Gonin Gora and elsewhere under his fiefdom as the Chief Security
Officer of my State. He has clearly failed to address the issue of justice to the victims of the genocide which
is the basis of peace instead he is busy spending stupendous amount of money have so far not yielded any
guarantee of Peace.
He should be tried maybe for allowing transient convenience in the form of ethno-religious coloration of his
regime to override our common humanity, collective crave for justice and attempting to allow the violators
of the sanctity of human lives on a genocidal scale to go free only to find his voice when a similar
reprehensible act was enacted at the UN House, Abuja.

I know that in Nigeria all animals are equal but some are more equal than others because Governors have a
complete and everlasting constitutional immunity from prosecution to cover their corruption, incompetence
or selective application of rules. In the face of permanent and unending immunity from judicial trial Yakowa
may have to face trial in the informal and unrecognized but portent courts of conscience, morality and divine
sanction sooner or later before our papers for prosecution at the conventional and ECOWAS Courts are
ready.
No! Great men are above the law, great achievers particularly those who break the chains that shackled
human genius cannot and should not be tried. My Governor is too great and too important to be disturbed or
distracted by the cry of justice from the bloody and ungrateful settlers from the semi deserted Arewa
(Northern Nigeria) and their alleged collaborators from Niger and Chad Republics.
To know why Mr. Governor may not wish to answer questions you need to know him, his background and
his record setting achievements as a man of many seasons which he would use to prevent his trial to no avail
while the perpetrators and the victims are left to smile or cry respectively depending on his perception of
what each of them deserve.
Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa is one of the great personalities who along with other select few individuals‟
divine circumstances or providence have saddled with the herculean responsibility of charting the future of
our great country Nigeria, which is on the brink of becoming a technical and operational „Failed State‟.
Euphemisms or propaganda should not be allowed to masked the place of any person, group or institution in
the history of his time and society depend on the sum total of inactions or associations when it mattered
most. A sage once opined that the necessary condition for the triumph of evil is for the good men and women
to do nothing in moments of great crises.
The true history of Nigeria would never be complete without at least a page on Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa,
not on any account of his current status as the Executive Governor of Kaduna State or any of the over thirty
significant fulltime and Adhoc positions he held over the years which range from Local through State to
Federal Governments.
Readers conversant with the seminal work titled “the Alexander Complex” may be familiar with the
perspective and import of my view points. The Alexander Complex, for the avoidance of doubt, is a
comprehensive study of what makes a great person great regardless of his ancestry, era of existence,
environment of their emergence or the resources available to him.
The future of Nigeria as a corporate entity is invariably intertwined with the destiny of people like Sir
Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, just like the case of former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. This much I assert
with all sense of responsibility without any intention of sycophancy or over dramatization.
A careful ontological and metaphysical mapping of all elemental dramatis personae cum forces at work both
natural and manmade, from the mundane to the sophisticated against the universal templates of cause and
effect on which there is a consensus among social and natural scientists, shall clearly reveal this subtle axiom
captured above.
„The trial of Christopher Okigbo‟ along with his other potentially great Africans in a novel by Professor Ali
Muzrai can guide us lay an intellectual foundation of our analyses on the nexus between Yakowa and the
future of Nigeria.

ii. Between Yakowa the Man and the Politician.
The unassuming and shadowy Yakowa has been a prominent public personality since 1972 when Yakowa
joined the Public Services of the defunct North Central State as a Social Science graduate from the
prestigious Ahmadu Bello University; his biography is therefore in the public domain.
The Civil Service culture, then in the peak of its glory, largely conditioned his world outlook of „being heard
not seen‟. He is a seasoned career Civil Servant who along with Bulus James and Godwin Loma sought
refuge from the political claws of Civil Service Reform when they were to be promoted to the rank of
“Director General” that would retire with his principal on the expiration of the former‟s tenure.
He was born on 1st
December, 1948 at Fadan Kagoma, the Seat of Gwong Chiefdom. It was part of the Kaje-
Kagoma–Yeskwa District of the Jema‟a Division Colonial Nassarawa Province. Other Divisions of then
Nassarawa Province included Keffi, Nassarawa, Lafia and Abuja.
The balkanization of the Province as a punishment for the assassination of Captain Maloney, the Resident of
Nassarwa Province, by the Magaji Dan Yamusa of keffi on one hand and the desire of the Kaje (now Bajju)
to join their kits and kilns in Zaria Province, on the other hand led to the excision from the Nassarawa
Province, which is the forerunner of Nassarawa State to Zaria Province, which is the forerunner of the
present Kaduna.
Fadan Kagoma is well known for producing distinguished Civil Servants, Scholars of international repute,
professionals and high ranking world class security personnel who have individually left their marks on the
annals of Nigerian history. Few among prominent Gwong (Kagoma) sons include HRH Colonel Zakka
Wyoms Rtd., Prof. Yusuf Turaki, Late Dr. Paul D. Bagobiri Phd Oxford, Hon. Musa Peter, Hon. Dominic
Yauri, Senator Babale K. Maikarfi, Major General Adamu Dyeris Rtd., Justice David Wyoms, Bishop
Joseph D. Bagobiri, Hon. Peter Kure, Late Lt. General Luka N. Yusuf, Dr. Katuka Yaki, Maj. John Ahmadu
Rtd, Mr. Yohana Byoma, Mr. Andrew Byoma, Mr. Jerry Labari, Late Col. Madaki, Mr. Inuwa Bahago, Late
CP Sule Dyere, Mr. Joe Kogi among many others who attained success or excellence in their chosen careers
both public and private.
The emergence of Yakowa from the Kagoma community is not surprising going by the number of the VIPs
nurtured and dispatched by Gwong (Kagoma) Community for national service in different spheres of human
endeavors. Ordinarily, the Gwong nation should be a community of proud Nigerians on account of the great
opportunities the nation provided for individual and collective self- actualization of its sons and daughters
from independence to date.
Prominent Community Leaders acquainted with Yakowa in his early days like Malam Moses Kurah of Fadan
Kaje and Malam Gwani Jatau a First Republic Parliamentarian and Chiroman Jema‟a of Fadan Kagoma
spoke of young Yakowa as an innocent but promising youth and later a student of St. Mary‟s Secondary
School, Fadan Kaje.
His Civil Service contemporary Builder Umar Abdullahi Kofar Bai, a retired Director of Building Services
of Katsina State paints Yakowa as a detribalized and fair-minded team player who is obsessed with
compliance with Rules and Procedures over and above personal gains.
Elder Statesmen who were his bosses at work particular and in life in general, such as Former Head of State
Gen. Abdussalami Abubakar Rtd., Late Aliyu Mohammed, Wazirin Jema‟a, Alhaji Gidado Idris, Maj. Gen.
Abdullahi Sarki Muktar Rtd., Senator Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi and Architect Mohammed Namadi
Sambo individually and collectively judged Yakowa as a sophisticated Civil Servant and an accomplished
technocrat who is humble, competent, reliable and above all not open to ambition and controversy.

The emergence of Yakowa as the civilian Governor of Kaduna State in 2010 was both unprecedented and
redeeming because he was the first Christian of Southern Kaduna extraction to attain such accomplishment
under a democratic dispensation, after several unsuccessful but progressive efforts by Dr. Audu Abashiya
(1979/83), Bar. Adamu Maikori (1991) Dr. Lazarus Soni (1991), Colonel Elias B. Nyan Rtd. (1999), Dr.
Ado Yusuf (2003), Late Garba C. Madaki (1999&2007), Senator Isaiah C. Balat (2007) among a few others.
Unlike most of his Southern Kaduna predecessors in the contest for Sir Kashim House (Kaduna State
Government House) who inadvertently viewed their candidature as part of “the struggle for emancipation of
Nerzit People from the so-called Hausa-Fulani hegemony”, Yakowa steered away from militancy and undue
radicalism by providing an alternative personality type to the wider Kaduna State community. Remember the
personality prototypes in the Political Sociology of the English Language by Professor Ali Muzrai of the
African Triple heritage‟s fame.
While the Nerzit community derided him with unprintable names, the other side of the divide view him in
the typical „Kirk Green‟s description of mutumin kirki‟ (a responsible or kind person) and a moderate
Southern Kaduna Christian with whom Muslims and other ethnic groups could do business without fear of
harm. His disposition earned him goodwill, which paved the path of his illustrious carrier in the Civil Service
and Politics.
Yakowa brought along into the Office of the Executive Governor solid educational preparation grounded
with Bachelor of Science in the 1972, a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration and crowned it all
with a Masters‟ Degree in the mid „80s coupled with several capacity trainings both local and international.
In addition, he has a rich and varied career in public service that spanned over 35 years in the three tiers of
Government. He can safely be regarded as an Alison Ayida, Philip Asiodu or Liman Chiroma of Kaduna
State Civil Service.
Who else in Nigeria other than Yakowa became a Governor after being a State Director, State Permanent
Secretary, Commissioner, a Federal Permanent Secretary, a Federal Commissioner and a Cabinet Minister,
Secretary to the State Government and a Deputy Governor?
What Yakowa brought to the table heightened the expectations of Kaduna State citizens who hitherto have
been yearning for good governance, social justice and economic empowerment as vehicles for change from
the poverty-stricken, conflict-prone and backwardness that characterized lives in the State.
These opinions are not meant to paint a picture of Yakowa as a saint or a super human hero. Like all other
persons he has his human limitations and proneness to errors of thoughts, judgments or action. One of his
insignificant errors committed in public life was the conveyance of his daughter to her wedding reception
held at Galaxy Amusement Park near Sir Kashim House in his Official Vehicle even though that was a
private function in which tax payers property ought not to have been used. If Nigeria were China the
difference would have been very clear.
My Governor, His Excellency Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa „Nakowa‟ can be forgiven after reading the social
composition of his Official Aids since his days as the Secretary to the State Governor, through his stint as
Deputy Governor and now as the Grand Commander of the Crocodile Zoo. He can also be forgiven for
ensuring the timely completion of the Gwong Development Area Secretariat while that of neighboring
Godogodo Development Area Secretariat is populated by exotic reptiles and demons until recently.
As an activist and politician I joined the Yakowa Campaign Organization based on my personal conviction
and his attractive resume which are hard to come by in this part of Nigeria. There were, in addition to the
aforementioned, invitation cum suggestions from Alhaji Abdu Barau Maigoro, the Jema‟a Local

Government Chairman of Jama‟atu Nasrul, Dr. Yusuf Hamisu Abubakar, the PDP Senatorial Candidate of
Kaduna Central Senatorial District, Alhaji Lawal Sama‟ila Yakawada, his Political Adviser, Alhaji Saidu D.
Adamu Talban Jema‟a and Commissioner Federal Character Commission, Alhaji Ibrahim Sidi Bamalli of
PDP National Secretariat and Architect Ayuba Natsa his Senior Special Assistant Project Monitoring and
Evaluation and my classmate, to team up with them and work towards Yakowa‟s electoral victory in the
last General Elections, which I did.
My reasons for joining the Nakowa Campaign included the anticipated nominal joy of producing a Governor
from Jema‟a my Local Government of birth. My entrepreneurial orientation of „thinking outside the box‟ and
the practice looking at the „big picture perspective‟ coupled with a possibility of a better ethno-religious
relations in southern Kaduna in particular and Kaduna State in general via the elimination of the cry or better
the perception of marginalization.
The very minimum expectation was that of if his sound education, rich working experience and wide
cosmopolitan exposure are anything to go by Kaduna State under Yakowa‟s Governorship would likely be
transformed into not only a State worthy of its names, a model State that would make its citizens proud. Our
collective dream then was a better Kaduna State characterized with Peaceful Co-existence, Rule of Law,
Social Justice and Sustainable development, which put together forms the cardinal elements of Good
Governance.
Having witnessed over a year and half years of Yakowa‟s Government, with the mishandling of the
premeditated ethno-religious cleansing of Muslims in his part of the State as the defining issue of his
administration, it is only normal to reassess its performance against our high expectations.
Before then let us have a bird eye view of the Nigerian state of the nation to put our analysis in proper
perspectives and in context of the national trends of event.
iii. Nigeria, the State of the Nation.
Nigeria, our dear country, is a wonderful and blessed nation within uncontestable potential for greatness. Our
immense natural endowments, great human resources and enviable environment devoid of destructive natural
disasters like volcanoes, earth quakes or mudslide.
It is, however, very sad to note that only very few Nigerians, particularly those in power and their apologists
are satisfied with the State of the Nation. Most issues pertaining to the State such as its economy, democratic
practice, judicial processes, environmental sustainability, relations among communities, nationalities,
federating units are at best backward mutually suspicious, exploitative, antagonistic and none symbiotic.
The Nigeria‟s foremost Political Economist, late Professor Bade Onimode, of blessed memory at the
Vanguard Newspapers Annual Lecture Series shocked the audience with data showing that by 1985, Nigeria
had earned and squandered in profligacy more than the Marshall Plan Budget, committed by the United
States of America in funding the reconstruction of Europe after the devastations of the Second World War.
From 1985 to date there is consensus among analysts that discounting bad leadership and its handmaid
pervasive corruption Nigeria has no business being an honorable member of the league of Least Developed
Countries of potential Failed States of the world. The potentials of greatness built on the labor of our heroes
past is gradually sliding into vain glory.
The main challenges of nation building characterized with building strategic broad consensus for mutual
survival, convocation of synergy amongst different members of the nation both institutions and individuals
coupled with subordination of individual or local aspiration into a legitimate, comprehensive and grand
national melting point of reciprocity, complimentarity and solidarity.

There is apparent decay in all spheres of our national life ranging from traditional institutions, public sector
to even religious and nongovernmental institutions are increasingly polluted by mediocrity, corruption,
insatiable greed, intellectual sterility and managerial bankruptcy.
The family, which is the basic and sacred foundation of the society, is not exempted from chaos resulting
from debilitating poverty, high cost of living, outdated socialization process and phobia of functional and
utilitarian knowledge. Adult deviance and incurable elite consumerism, parasitism and chronic banality are
the order of our time.
At a time when other Countries are integrating the engines of dynamic socio-material creativity and
innovation in all aspects of their national lives our leaders like the proverbial Ostrich have blurred their
vision and missed their path by burying their heads in permanent paranoia, fatalistic neo and xenophobia
blindly threading the costly path of a life that is nasty and brutish war of all against all prophesized by
Hobbes.
Innovation, creativity and productivity used to build a robust reward structure have no place in the lexicon of
the bankrupt Nigerian elites who worship the mammon at the shrine of the secular and occultist gods of
Money, illegitimate political power and shameless moral deficiency syndrome. In this manner our great
human and natural endowments were hopelessly mismanaged and abused to the detriment of the majority by
few parasites parading themselves in different garbs, or better, garbage tags often times called experts,
consultants, investors or organized private sectors. Most Religious, traditional and political leaders have
helplessly become serious liabilities to the progress of our State and society.
More serious Nation States would have transformed Nigeria into a paradise on Earth giving the 97 years
since amalgamation of 1914 or 51 years since the flag and paper independence. When Nigerian elites are
faced with the periodic internecine competition for power, they unwittingly seek refuge in the shelter of
tribe, religion and regionalism which they abandoned as soon as their goals are achieved.
While developed nations of the world are surrendering their Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and National
Currencies Nigerian elites fraudulently acclaim themselves as the „giant‟ of Africa, when in reality they are
the dwarfs and retarded pigmies of the Africa south of Sahara.
Concerned to frustration by this national sickness Bishop J.D. Bagobiri OF THE Kafanchan Catholic
Dioceses at the second plenary assembly of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria lamented that:-
“It is OK for politicians and secularists to delude themselves in thinking the panacea for Nigerian problems
are found in respect for the rule of law, political reforms, rebranding, EFCC and what have you. It is ok for
the state to follow such policies. But the Church knows better where the problem lies.” I hope he had advised
YAKOWA where the problem lies.
The central issue in our contemporary political discourse is surprisingly not the “Transformation Agenda” of
President Goodluck with its promises of Good Governance, Social Justice and Sustainable Development,
which if faithfully implemented would improve not only the prospect of a better Nigeria but equally more
important, it may engender enhanced human development of the over pauperized and dehumanized
Nigerians.
Other critical challenges of nation building such as the management of the open manifestation of growing
tendency of national disintegration are ignored by the single minded and consisted pursuit of illegitimate
political and economic power to be used for self enrichment and promotion of primordial ethno-religious
and/ or sectional parochialism.
A brief review of our State of the nation lead pundits to prophesize our disintegration by 2015. Instead of

receiving the projection soberly our leaders started throwing breaks of insults all over the place. We are now
better informed with challenges we now have at hand.
Whoever is confident that all is well with our polity should have a closer look beyond the luxury of his/her
delusions at the picture of what International Agencies paint of Nigeria with the table below as guide : -
S/NO
INTERNATIONAL
AGENCY
KEY INDICATORS
MEASURED
NIGERIA’S 2009
RANKING
NIGERIA’S 2011
RANKING
REMARKS
1 Education for All Number of school aged
children out of school
1st
( 8.1m) out of
75m
1st
(10m) out of The Worst
country in the
World.
2 Legatum
Prosperity Index
Economic
Fundamentals
Entrepreneurship and
Innovation
Democratic Institutions
Education
Health
Safety and Security
Governance
Personal Freedom
Social Capital
98th
out of 104
Countries
104th
out of 110
Countries.
Better than 6
countries in
2009 and 2011
in the world.
3 Mo Ibrahim Index of
African Governance
Safety and Rule of Law
Participation and
Human Rights
Sustainable Economic
Opportunity
Human Development
35th
out of 53
African Countries
41ST
out of 53
African Countries.
40 African
countries are
better than
Nigeria.
4 Human Development
Report
Sustainable Human
Development.
158th
out of 177
Countries
156th
out of 187
Countries.
157 and 155
are better than
Nigeria.
5 Failed State Index Demographic Pressures
Refugees and IDPs
Group Grievance
Human Flight
Uneven Economic
Development
Economic Decline
Delegitimization of the
State
Public Services.
15th
out of 178
Countries.
13th
out of 177
Countries.
163 and 162
countries are
better than
Nigeria
6 Transparency international. Corruption Perception
Index 2009.
130th
out of 180
Countries.
143rd
out of 188
Countries.
129 and 142
Countries are
better than
Nigeria.
States are the Federating Units of Nigeria, their degree of their collective health, coherence and stability
directly measures the health of the nation. The pervasive greed of our rulers, the modern day Fuhrers, who
dictated the avoidable impending implosion of the Federation!
The Nigerian level of underdevelopment which is directly proportional to the degree of corruption and poor
leadership over the years is the single most significant factor responsible for the deterioration of the security
of lives and property in Nigeria is worrisome!

The recent improvement of the Nigeria Credit Outlook Rating by the Standard and Poor‟s was a monumental
fraud and politically motivated to suggest that the extra ordinary Minister of Finance and Imperial Supervisor
of the Economy and the Government of Goodluck are transforming the Economy of the country.
It is a shame to have a country in a self inflicted war with itself that can afford to buy a cheap International
with Billions of Dollars but cannot be responsible and responsive enough to listen the yearnings and
aspirations of its citizens on crucial matter of their survival. For us at the grassroots we know whether or
not things are getting better.
iv. Kaduna State as the Microcosm of Nigeria.
Kaduna is the most proto typical State of the Nigerian States. Apart from being the Rest House of the Good,
the Bad and the Ugly of the Nigerian power brokers it is also a toiling ground for the down trodden such as
those eking out a living at the dead industrial estates of Kakuri and Makera, the informal intermediate
technology fabrication cluster of Panteka, and market pilots of Sheikh Abubakar Gumi Market.
The Nigerian contradictions, paradoxes and shallowness are alive and well in Kaduna State where Fuhrers
have converted a benign environment into a peninsular of death and destruction both quick through mass
murder and slow through diseases, frustrations and government induced social and material deprivations.
It is unfortunate that the allure and splendor of Kaduna the Lugardian and Sardauna Seats of power,
prosperity, faith, industry and leisure is now a ghost of itself having lost its glory and potentials on the altar
of parochial and visionless leadership and corruption which bred bifurcation of human accommodation,
mutual support and fairness to an entirely frustrated situation.
The options of cooperation, collaboration and conflicts open as models for managing unity in diversity for
the good of all are skewed by the elite‟s collaboration to steal the State blind and the imprisonment of the
citizens in perpetual mass manslaughter and total negation of sanity and propriety!
Kaduna being bipolar State with dominant Muslim demographics in the northern and central parts with a
minority Christians and exact reverse in the southern parts where there are dominant Christians and minority
Muslims. It is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and diverse and complex State both geomorphologically and
sociologically.
Conflict and competition between ethnic, religious and sectional groups have come to define the group
dynamics of the State over and above the common sense dictates of finding common grounds for the greatest
good of the greatest number of people.
This group madness has consumed several innocent lives including collateral death of women, children and
other vulnerable groups. Vital economic assets, infrastructures and properties that can be used to enhance
living standards were and are still being destroyed with reckless abandon. Over time the wheels of national
integration are broken on the altar of parochial and ignorance induced hatred of so-called settlers by the so-
called aboriginals.
Outside the principal cities of Kaduna and Zaria the State is largely rural, desolate and agrarian with the
collapse of the industrial clusters in the two cities. The history of the State Capital as a Seat of Colonial,
Regional and later State Government, Kaduna attracted inhabitants from all the nooks and crannies of
Nigeria and beyond.
Newer States curved out recently compared to first generation States without basic institutions compared to
Kaduna that inherited virtually everything from colonial Governments, Missionaries, the defunct Northern
Regional Government and preponderant Federal Government presence. If the institutions, infrastructures and
operational systems that accrue to the State from the above are discounted people would be forced to ask

questions as to where have all the Federal Allocations and the internally Generated Revenue been applied in
the state over the years? It is visible that the level of wealth accumulation of our leaders is directly
proportional to the level of our societal underdevelopment and decay maybe that is where the allocations
missed their way into. The rigid elevation and manipulation of differences in faith, natural and other social
elements are taken as static thereby enslaving the victims and beneficiaries in the golden prisons of hate,
violence and fear.
V. 2011 Southern Kaduna (Genocide) Ethno-Religious Cleansing.
The Nigerian 2011 Post Election Violence was a national phenomenon but Kaduna State by commission or
omission recorded the biggest casualty in terms of human lives lost, the value of properties destroyed and the
humanitarian crisis generated.
This came to pass, most likely because as the major beneficiary of the crisis, the State Government having
been in power for about a year before the crises failed to consolidate the Peace building institutions and
mechanisms put in place for such purposes by previous regimes such as the Religious Harmony Committee,
the Strike Force Centers, Operation Yaki Outfit or at the very least use the massive security on ground
deployed to the State for the purposes of the 2011 General Elections.
The genocidal attacks and mass murder of so-called settlers by so-called indigenous people at the slightest
opportunity have been going on since the Kasuwan Magani incidence of 1981 and to date no one was ever
brought to book on account of this monumental crime against humanity, where about One Thousand persons
were eliminated. The process of elimination was video recorded by the proud perpetrators most of whom are
identifiable in the pictures and clips.
Perhaps that was the main reason why when in other parts of the country rival party militias were slugging it
out in the Southern Kaduna it became business of killing the settler as usual while the state government
imposed and enforced curfew in Northern parts of the State and allow the ethnic militias of Southern Kaduna
a field day killing Hausa Fulani and associated Muslim groups both those residing in and those on transit
along the Federal Roads that traverse Southern Kaduna.

A Certain Harvest of Good Governance promised by Yakowa for Eight Months no Justice is the Government Asleep?
a). Causes and Dimensions of the genocide.
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah in an interview with the African
Confidential in August, 2010 at London observed that:
“Jonathan cannot run without severe implications for Nigeria. There are a lot of issues that I think we need
to address were he to decide to run. They include the agreement, the zoning provision, which is purely a
political issue. He will have to find a way of pacifying other segments of Nigeria within the PDP who are
taking that policy as a given with all these structural deficiencies. I also think that we haven‟t gotten to a
point where we can pretend that region, religion, ethnicity and community don‟t matter; tragically they do
matter. We cannot create a vibrant democracy without creating an environment where everybody feels that
their voices matter and everybody feels that they are part and parcel of that process”.
The prophesy or anticipated „severe implications‟ in the form of Post-Election Violence engulfed some parts
of Nigeria between the 18th
and 19th
of April 2011. It took the character of Ethno-Religious Cleaning in
Southern Kaduna the ancestral home of Bishop Kukah.
To date, there are about four different explanations from the highly placed very important personalities
(VIPs) of Southern Kaduna extraction on the Genocide.
Barrister Mark Jacob, an indigene of Zonkwa, the epicenter of the genocide, a former Attorney General and
Commissioner for Justice in Kaduna State said the Zonkwa crisis was sparked by the discovery of a Truck
conveying arms to the Hausa Community of Zonkwa and that the genocide of the Hausas of Zonkwa was
carried out not by the Bajjus of Zonkwa but by outsiders.

Bishop Bagobiri of the Kafanchan Catholic Diocese in a Press Conference of the Southern Kaduna Christian
Council said some prominent Northern Politicians have threatened to make the country ungovernable if the
North did not win the Presidency in 2011. That “as the Presidential Election trickles in those unhappy with
the outcome start attacking innocent Christians with sophisticated weapons with the help of mercenaries
from Niger and Chad Republics and they were over powered and exterminated by his parishioners using
sticks and stones”.
His Excellency Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, who was not known for reckless talk on account of his maturity,
sophistication and accumulated wisdom, said “the crisis, even though unnecessary was caused by those who
saw they were losing elections.” The whole world knew and has not forgotten those who saw they would
lose free and fair elections; they as well also know themselves regardless of their efforts to play the game of
the Ostrich.
The four celebrated discussants are prominent, informed and are eminently qualified to speak for and on
behalf of Southern Kaduna and they have spoken both in words and in deeds. My predicament is whose
account is false since they all are always committed to the truth and nothing but the truth.
In retrospect, Southern Kaduna has become well known for ethno-religious conflicts for the past thirty years
since 1981 when the Kasuwan Magani ethno-religious crisis erupted. The crises are growing in their ignoble
parameters of the number of lives lost, quantum of properties destroyed and geographical spread.
In most cases victims are left to suffer their fate in perpetual agony while the perpetrators of the inhuman,
reprehensible and criminal acts are rewarded with enhanced traditional, political, territorial and economic
powers. Since we are ruled by politicians mindful of the next elections instead of Statesmen who are
concerned with the next generation, our society is left to bear permanent scars in their bodies and psyche
across the land with impunity.
The 2011 crisis have left about a Thousand Muslims massacred, several others seriously injured. Several
homes, means of earning their livelihoods and places of worship were completely destroyed. Surprisingly,
even the indigenous non-Hausa Muslims of assorted Southern Kaduna extraction, such as Kamantan, Bajju,
Jaba, Ikulu, Kagoro were not spared from these acts of inhumanity of man against his fellow mankind
simply on account of being of different faith .
We are very lucky that there are survivors consisting mainly of Widows, Orphans and other vulnerable
persons were witnessed the entire genocide before they were completely displaced from their places of abode
in at least Nineteen (19) Southern Kaduna settlements, at least they can tell their human stories to those who
wish to listen.
You can find direct information on the tragedy from Internally Displaced Persons who were originally living
at Gonin Gora, Maraban Rido, Sabon Gidan Hausawa all of Chikun Local Government Area., Kamuru Ikulu,
Gidan Maga, guwar Rimi Bajju, Zonkwa, Matsirga, Samarun Kataf all of Zangon Kataf Local Government
Area, Agban, Fadan Daji, Kukum Gida, Kukum Daji, Tuyit, all of Kaura Local Government Area, Kwoi,
Daddu, Sabon Garin Kwoi. Chori, all of Jaba Local Government Area, Sabon Sarki, Kurmin Musa, Jaban
Kogo all of Kachia Local Government Area
Some of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have fled out of Kaduna State to other States such as
Kwara, Oyo, Bauchi, Nassarawa, Niger, FCT, Jigawa, Kano and Katsina. You may add Chad, Niger or
Egypt if you have enough hard currency to buy the propaganda of Bagobirin Kagoma.
Other Victims like the Yoruba Muslim neighbors of Pastor Emmanuel Kure at Hayin Gada Kafanchan by

name Alhaji Kasali and Boda Ma‟aruf have fled for safety having lost their houses and entire lives savings as
micro entrepreneurs. Many others remaining have become refugees in their own State. They can be found at
the Hajj Camp Mando, Kaduna or Ladduga Grazing Reserve, Maraban Jos, Pambegua, Unguwan Bawa,
Saminaka, Lazuru, Mariri, Zangon Kataf, Kachia, Kafanchan, Kagarko, Jere, Kauru, Turawa and Buruku
To assess the scope of the human tragedy, I joined a team of Civil Societies to tour the various locations of
the Internally Displaced Persons, assess their conditions, interact with them and obtained their challenges,
fears and expectations on their current conditions. We visited seven locations namely Hajj Camp, Mando,
Chikun LGA, Ladduga Cattle Grazing Reserve, Kachia, Kachia LGA, Kafanchan, Jema‟a LGA, Kagarko,
Kagarko LGA, Pambegua, Kubau LGA and U/Bawa. Lere LGA from Tuesday, August 16, 2011. Ladduga,
Kachia, Kafanchan and Kagarko were visited on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 while Pambegua and
Unguwan Bawa were visited on Thursday, August 18, 2011.
b). Population of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as of dates of Visits.
S/NO LOCATION POPULATION NATURE OF LIVING
CONDITION
REMARKS.
1 Hajj Camp ,
Mando
2,987, Persons Sheltered in Govt. Hajj
Camp, Mando
Displaced from Zonkwa,
M/Rido, Kamuru and Matsirga
2 Ladduga 2,502 Persons Housed in make shift
Huts (temporary)
Displaced from Entire Southern
Kaduna.
3 Kachia 1121 Persons Housed in borrowed/
Rented houses.
Displaced from Kamuru-Ikulu,
Zonkwa & G/maga.
4a Kafanchan 264 Persons Housed in borrowed/
Rented houses.
Displaced from
Matsirga,U/Rimi G/Maga,
U/Fari, & U/Baki
4b Kafanchan 406 Persons Housed in
borrowed/rented houses.
Displaced from within
Kafanchan
5 Kagarko 1,750 Persons borrowed/rented houses Displaced from Kwoi, Daddu,
Chori etc
6 Pambegua/Kauru 253 Person borrowed/rented houses Displaced from Kamuru &
Zonkwa.
7 U/Bawa 2,513 Persons borrowed/rented houses Displaced from Zonkwa,
Kamuru & Matsirga
TOTAL 11, 796 Persons
c). Living Conditions of Internally Displaced Persons.
The Internally Displaced Persons are living in very pathetic, sub human and very difficult lives. They have
difficulty obtaining basic food, medications and sanitary items. These are victims who survived ethno-
religious massacre on a large scale, were violently uprooted and forcefully displaced from their respective
places of abode. Their entire life savings and belongings were completely destroyed with impunity; they
emerged out of the gruesome attacks without money, food items, clothes and other belongings necessary for
optimal survival.

Their host communities are already bedeviled with subsistence living standard and in times chronic poverty,
which was compounded by the found themselves with an unmanageable influx of refugees whom they must
accept out of humanitarian spirit. The little accommodation, food, clothes and other resources available no
matter how meager were shared in the African spirit of one being “a brothers‟ keeper”.
Children except at Mando Hajj Camp have lost School Hours; many women have put to bed in exceptionally
difficult conditions. An entire active and productive population has been reduced to begging for alms to
survive. Several able bodied men and women are living idly at the mercy of the elements.
The major exception to the above is the Mando Hajj Camp where the refugees are slightly better off on
account of their visibility which attracted support and assistance from several NGOs, Philanthropists and
other good Samaritans. The NGOs, Philanthropists and other good Samaritans both Muslim based have
supplied the Hajj Camps Victims with adequate food; other basic amenities and School have organized
classes for Western and Islamic Education by some NGOs for about three months now. A NECO
examination Centre was also opened for displaced Senior Secondary School Students for the 2011 May/ June
Examinations.
Out of the Seven Centers visited by the committee, only three, namely, Hajj Camp, Kafanchan and Ladduga
have received some forms of Relief Materials from the State (SEMA) and Federal (NEMA) which lasted for
only 30 days. For the last three months refugees at the Mando, Kafanchan and Ladduga Camps were left to
carter for themselves while the refugees at the other Camps have not received any thing yet from either the
State or Federal Governments, since their displacement in mid April, 2011.
d). Management of the Humanitarian Crisis by Kaduna State Government.
All the victims who lost their lives, houses, means of livelihood and places of worships who now populate
the Camps of Internally Displaced Persons are all citizens of Kaduna State, who have the right to receive
adequate support and rehabilitation from the State Government, whose gross negligence gave the organized
army of Islamaphobia the opportunity to carry out genocidal attacks that ended with the massacre of
Muslims and Displacement of Survivors to the afore mentioned Camps.
Since the end of the crisis the major action of the State Government was the quick and thorough evacuation
of charred corpses, burnt vehicles and clearing of debris probably to destroy all evidences of the Crime
Committed by Christians at the nineteen locations mentioned above.
The State Government has abandoned the victims to their fate after the initial consignment of Relief
Materials provided through the State Emergency and Management Agency (SEMA) which lasted for only
thirty (30) days in May, 2011. And the unrealistic provision of the paltry sum of Fifteen Thousand Naira
(15,000.00) for the accommodation of families, which many communities rejected because, apart from being
grossly inadequate it was also a ploy to move them out of public attention which was purportedly causing
Government a lot of embarrassment.
Instead of facing the challenge head on and objectively with the aim of dispensing justice and achieving
lasting peace in the State, the Government of Yakowa is busy chasing shadow in self deceit through divide
and rule of victims, public propaganda and empty but politically motivated gestures such as hosting an Iftar
(breakfast) with Southern Kaduna Muslims on Thursday, August 18, 2011 at V.I.P. Lodge, Kafanchan,
when over Ten Thousand of their brethren are in refugee Camps languishing in hopelessness, hunger and
despair.

A fraction of the alleged Three Hundred Million Naira (300,000,000.00) spent monthly on allowances to
the Military for maintaining security in the State could have been used proactively to prevent or avert the
crisis but the State but our Governor chose to look the other way when innocent people were being
butchered.
The Kaduna State Commissioner of Information, Alhaji Sa‟idu Adamu, was quoted in the Daily Trust News
Paper of Friday, August 19, 2011 saying Government would soon relocate refugees from Hajj Camp to the
Rehabilitation Centre, Kakuri-Kaduna claiming that the Refugees are only 200 in number which is far from
the truth, because our findings reveals that contrary to their assertions, there are 2,987 IDPs at Mando Hajj
Camp as at Tuesday, August 16, 2011. Somebody somewhere was either misinforming the Government or
the Government was not serious about finding the true situation. In either case, it goes to show the type of
officials we have in Yakowa‟s administration.
Instead of facing the situation squarely, comprehensively and strategically the Yakowa Government directed
the unelected Sole Administrators of Local Governments Areas to organize local level reconciliation efforts
between the perpetrators of the genocide and their attackers. But what would come out of it at a time the
perpetrators are seen all over the town beating their chests to satisfaction, while the victims live in inhuman
conditions as IDPs remain to be seen.
iii. Kafanchan the Pilot Battle Ground of Betrayal and Treachery.
Kafanchan, my home town occupies a place of pride in the history of Nigeria; it represents the promise and
contradictions of Nigeria on a unique scale. Located at the centre of the country at near equidistance from the
far north and the far south its famous Railway Junction easily transformed it into the melting pot of Nigeria.
It was, and had remained, cosmopolitan and plural since my childhood in the early 1960‟s. Right from
Primary School my Class composition reflect with the Federal Character Principle ever before it was
enshrined in the Nigeria Constitution. We grow to accept one another as different but equal, mutually
interdependent and cooperative in pursuit of common good.
I might not have noticed as a kid if there were manifestations of antagonism amongst the different divide of
the town. In the decade „1977‟ to „1987‟ I was away at school at Government College Katsina and Ahmadu
Bello University, Zaria.
I returned home after graduation and after the death of my father in December, 1987. It was probably then
that I began to sense that Kafanchan was no longer what it used to be, a home accommodating plurality,
peaceful coexistence and enterprise.
Late Col. Yohana Madaki vibrant launched a document titled „NERZIT‟ authored by Late Thomas Jerry
Adamu on the occasion of the Nerzit Convention and Public Lecture at the Kagoro Town Hall. The Nerzit
Association which I proudly associated myself with was being lead by Hon. Nuhu Waney. Kafanchan was
classified as a contested territory in the said document; where it was claimed that there were liberated
territories and territories under occupation in Southern Kaduna.
Later events proved really that it was indeed a contested territory. The blind contest for the territory resulted
in four major ethno-religious conflicts, in 1987, 1996, 1999, and 2011 all resulting to massive deaths and
colossal loss of properties. The growth of the town was deliberately stunted unlike its peers such that
systematic urbanization and upgrade of amenities are denied to Kafanchan because the majority of its
inhabitants are said to be settlers.
On the four instances of conflicts Kafanchan was encircled 360 degrees by those contesting for suzerainty
over it from surrounding villages. I was in town when the incidences of 1996, 1999 and 2011 erupted. I

cannot remember any instance when the People of Kafanchan or Jema‟a Emirate left the town to attack any
of the neighboring settlement/Chiefdoms. Any person who lost his life in Kafanchan does so because he left
his village for Kafanchan either to join the militia of those contesting for Kafanchan or to loot the properties
of its residents.
I was least surprised when Bishop Bagobiri said in a Press Conference that after the April 18 and 19, 2011
genocide across Southern Kaduna, Kafanchan is living on a time bomb, may be because his militia of
headhunters were unable to subdue the town as they successfully did in Matsirga, Zonkwa, Gidan Maga,
U/Rimi Bajju among others.
After all, Bishop Bagobiri is from Fadan Kagoma the home town of His Excellency Patrick Yakowa, where
all the Muslims who were living with them for over a century were completely displaced since the year 2000.
It was still at Fadan Kagoma that the vehicle conveying injured persons to Abuja for tertiary medical care
were denied the right of passage by an illegal Road Block of militia commanded by a retired Major General
disarmed the military escort and forced back home to die. Alhamdulillah (thanks to God) they have all died
and those who rejoice over the death of „ungrateful‟ and „arrogant‟ settlers can now celebrate and thank God
for their action and let them live till eternity.
It is important to note that the contest for Kafanchan is not only between the Jema‟a Emirate and other
Chiefdoms. Initially, the contest was between the Kaninkon and Fantsuam Chiefdoms before Late Hon. Kure
Malam issued a statement that Kafanchan belong to the Bajju a claim recently reechoed by Pastor Emmanuel
Kure of Throne room Ministries.
Pastor Emmanuel Kure, who earns a living in the vineyard of the Lord, is now the self-appointed and weird
historian of the origin and ownership of Kafanchan land. He claimed that Jema‟a Emirate is the root cause of
upheavals in the town since „the Kafanchan people were Christians before the coming of Islam‟; as if Islam
was not in existence in the area before the Usman Danfodio jihad of circa 1804 or as if Christianity did not
start in the area only in the 1940s!!
Readers should be able to know the difference between when a clergy man is speaking the Gospel and when
he is speaking the Canons of the Devil with whom some clergy men are now secretly acolytes. Kure, who
bought a part of my land holding at Hayin Gada Kafanchan to build his family residence, is now an indigene
because he is a Christian and his benefactor and hosts a bloody settler!!!
The great, scholarly and neutral works of scholars like Ulf Hannerz, the Professor Emeritus of Anthropology
of Sweden University, Stockholm research report titled “Washington and Kafanchan: A View of Urban
Anthropology” published in the L'Homme, Année 1982, Volume 22, Numéro 4 p. 25 – 36, would certainly
help us expose the hypocrisy and outright falsification of history by Pastor Emmanuel Kure of the Throne
Room Ministries Inc. The professor said on the complexity of Kafanchan thus:

Pastor Kure have put himself to eternal moral shame for lying on record, for contrary to his claims Professor
Ulf Hannerz, has established that when Kafanchan was established in the 1920s by the Colonial
Administration it attracted inhabitants from far and wide such as the Hausa from the north, the Yorubas from
the west and the Igbos from the east but the local people known as Southern Zaria, were insignificant few.
He further pointed out that it was „during the anti-Ibo riots of 1966 and the outbreak of the Civil War in
1967 that a new set of peoples from the surrounding areas –the kaje, the Kagoro, the Katab, the Jaba, the
Kaninkon, the Maroa, and a number of others –gained a real foothold inside the town’, Probably to
occupy abandoned properties of the Igbos who on the wake of the Civil War left for the East.
Facts are sacred; more so when we are elevated from the status of a failed lecturer to that of a false prophet
we should not let ethno-religious xenophobia to blind us from accepting facts no matter how bitter. Was it
not William Morris, of The Art and Craft Movement of the Renaissance Period who said that ‘the Truth that
that which would make men free is that which they prefer not to hear.’
The partisanship of Yakowa on agitation for ownership and control of Kafanchan Town has been on record,
since when he was the Chairman Kaduna State Boundary Adjustment Committee, set up after the creation of
new Chiefdoms by Governor Makarfi. The committee under Yakowa recommended to the State Government
that a whole District of Jema‟a‟ Emirate, the Hayin Gada, be excised and annexed with a neighboring
Chiefdom. The targeted District was the only available farmlands in Jema‟a Emirate while the intended
beneficiary Chiefdom, which was a District of the Emirate elevated to Chiefdom, had never exercise
traditional jurisdiction over the area in question.
It took the foresight and wisdom of the then government to reject the proposal purportedly aimed at giving a
sense of belonging to the neighboring Chiefdoms in the Kafanchan Urban Element. I hope we are not facing
the subtle implementation of that obnoxious recommendation previously rejected, on valid grounds, within
the euphoria of Yakowa‟s new status as the custodian of the decision making unit of Crocodile conclave.

Contrary to the presumed Statesman status of Yakowa; the way he and his government are handling the
issues of security of lives and property, peaceful coexistence and sustainable development of Kafanchan
Town have shown clear manifestations of unfairness and ill will against the people of the Emirate in favor of
the surrounding chiefdoms.
For example it is on record that two commercial drivers by names Mohammed Kajiji and Malam Musa
Mohammed on 18th
April and 1st September, 2011 respectively and Mohanmed Suleiman aka Emani a
young man on 6th
December, 2011 were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood at katsit along Kwoi Road on
the outskirts of Kafanchan without any action from state government security agencies or concerned.
Similarly a gun runner was arrested on 17th
July by vehicle of Operation Yaki patrol team at Damakasuwa
on his way from Jos to Kafanchan with 11 sophisticated guns and over 100 rounds of ammunitions after
interrogation he confessed in the open that he was on his fifth trip and his destination was Aduan quarters on
the out skirts of Kafanchan. Since he was whisked to Kaduna he is miraculously nowhere to be found in any
security custody in the state even though many passersby snapped him and his wares with handsets.
Above all; the blame for the massive and deadly Post-Election Violence that culminated into genocide of
Muslims in Southern Kaduna at twenty five locations must rest squarely on the shoulders of Yakowa who
was the negligent chief Security Officer of the State when the sad premeditated action occurred. The early
signs of trouble started in the late afternoon of Monday 18th
April, 2011. Several distress calls and text
messages were sent Yakowa but he failed to take action to nib the crises in the bud.
If there is no conspiracy what does it take for a serious government to deploy additional security across a
distance of just Two Hundred Kilometers on an asphalted and flat road? How the huge Security Votes was
used in Kaduna State with all its history of conflicts that it has no rapid response mechanism on ground?
Why does it take about fifteen (15) hours after the worst have happen before the State government
responded?
Perhaps the greatest reason of why Yakowa‟ should face trial is the insensitive and inhuman manner in
which he handled the post crisis events, which is characterized with double standards, neglect and open
bias.
The 2011 Post Election Violence had left our dear Kafanchan in particular and Kaduna State in general with
irreparable loss of Human lives, inestimable properties and has ravaged the subsisting goodwill and
solidarity hitherto existing amongst the diverse people of Southern Kaduna. The scars, sorrows and the
enormous cost, both financial and socio-moral of the sad event are still fresh in our memory. Most
reasonable people are prayerful for urgent return of the good old days of peaceful coexistence and mutual
respect for the sanctity of human lives.
After the sad incidences many people at least in Kafanchan are also happy that the tensed or war like
situation of Kafanchan and environs was gradually giving way to normalcy and mutual accommodation
which calls for concerted efforts by Government and its agencies, Security Agencies, Traditional Institutions,
Civil Societies and individuals to support and further nurture the fragile peace until it translates into
sustainable peace, harmony and tranquility.

Contrary to the above expectation the Governor sent his errand boy, Comrade Yunana Barde the Chairman
Caretaker Committee of Jema‟a Local Government Council, who is not even an elected Chairman with full
Statutory and Corporate powers of an elected Executive Local Government Chairman under the relevant
Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Kaduna State, had by his pronouncements and actions reignited
the subsiding conflict by threatening the nascent peace gradually building up in Kafanchan and environs. It is
no surprise therefore that the crisis kept re erupting intermittently.
The Federal and State Governments had set up Panel of Investigation and a Judicial Commission of Enquiry
respectively to investigate the crises. We had registered our reservation on that of the State to live up to its
mandate. The Jema‟a Local Government Caretaker Committee Chairman unilaterally jumped the Gun by
causing the Kafanchan KSTA and the Kafanchan Central Motor Parks and the burnt Kafanchan Central
Market to be demolished in a Commando manner, without recourse to the Reports of Inquiry and the White
Paper of Government that are supposed to provide a basis for comprehensive action on all matters related to
the crisis.
The traders who collectively protested the actions of Chairman were already victims of colossal economic
loss, psychological and traumatic experiences. Many have lost their entire life savings; others among us are
heavily indebted to Banks and other Financial Institutions while many more have lost both their entire
residential and commercial properties, this call for empathy from all concerned as well as concerted efforts to
improve their lot and not deliberately compound it. The action of the Local Authority certainly negates the
tenets of Good Governance and the National Policy on Micro Small and Medium enterprises.
Observers were initially at loss since April 19th,
2011 when the Market was razed to ashes as to the motive
behind this sordid action since it serves the entire communities of Kafanchan and environs but when we saw
an illegal market being promoted at Kafanchan Veterinary site along Kagoro Road, without sanction by
Government and its Planning and Development control agency KASUPDA.
Indications of suspected semi-official foul play and vested interests at work determined to obliterate the
Kafanchan Central Market one of institutions affected by the crises. The promoters of the new market and
their hidden masters audaciously named it Yakowa Market. Otherwise how can one explain the action of
Comrade Yunana against the following incontrovertible facts:-
a) The sad event occurred in mid April ,2011 after the 2011 budgets have been passed into law and the
2012 Budget is some pretty eight months away (September 2011-April 2012) therefore where did
Comrade Yunana obtain the funds to commence the „project‟?.
b) The Public Procurement Act in force requires that the procurements of Goods and Services must be
based not only on appropriations but must also comply with due processes.
Comrade Yunana would certainly be a genius if he has fully complied, from the time of his appointment in
July 2011 to date, with these Due Process procedures as enshrined in the Laws of the Land governing such
developments/action before embarking into this partisan and reckless misadventure. The Public was certainly
breach particularly the transparency element in exercise of naked power. Who cares for all these if non-
compliance would serve Yakowa‟s parochial interest in Kafanchan?
The foot soldier of the Governor had displaced the Kafanchan Motor Park Traders and the Commercial
Transport Service providers under the NURTW to make way for the forcefully ejected traders from the
Central Market thereby creating new problems. Victims of the burnt markets were made to construct new
stalls at the site Motor Park, why did the Local Government build it for them to reduce their burdens? For
how long would the members of NURTW be operating on the streets of Kafanchan? What would happen to
the original Motor Park Traders dislodged to pave way for the traders from the Main Market?

Petitions written by concerned citizens complaining the negative consequences of these unhealthy
developments to the State Governor or the State House of Assembly are always ignored. What does these
amount to? Is this a manifestation of complicity in what is taking place? Or a sign of the utter contempt with
which the government held its citizen?
These are certainly not reasonable, objective and sincere peace building efforts but would rather amount to
the continuation of the crisis by other means. The accumulated experience of Yakowa in public service are
not reflected in the conduct of his government as regards to genuine peace building initiatives which require
more than mere erection of bill boards sermonizing on peace. He was on ground when his predecessors in
office took concrete measures to build and sustain peace in the State.
vi) Yakowa between Good Governance and Propaganda.
As an accomplished Politician Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa left no one in doubt what he would do if the
electorates give him the mandate to govern. Starting from the day of his inauguration he pledged to be a
governor for all people of the Kaduna State where he rhetorically added emphases that he would not be a
Governor of Christians only as if someone prompted him to be otherwise.
In his electoral Declaration Speech he painted a rosy picture of Kaduna State under his possible Stewardship.
Specifically he offered the electorates in unambiguous terms the following promises. In his words on the
marble he claimed to have:-
a. “Surveyed the landscape, assessed the challenges as well as the possibilities and come to the
conclusion that I can contribute to the growth and development of our dear State.” He then
promised that: -
b. “If given the chance in 2011, I promise to rededicate myself to serve you, I intend to observe good
faith and justice towards all, cultivate peace and harmony with everybody irrespective of religious
or ethnic background.” He added that: -
c. “I am convinced that we can and we must design the architecture of governance that ensures that we
build a society that focuses on the welfare of the weakest members of our society….the welfare,
wellbeing, security, safety, quality of life of the weakest citizen of our State must become our
priority”.
d. He further promised sic “I sincerely wish to leave you more improved, more enhanced, more
equipped mentally and physically to surmount the every-day challenges that life throw at us.”
e. He then aspired “to be able to look back years from today and tell my Almighty God that when I had
the opportunity to contribute towards the development of Kaduna State, I did with all my might, with
all my strength and with all my spirit, without bias and with clean conscience”.
f. He surprisingly concluded by quoting Thomas Jefferson “a former American President who in his
inaugural address in 1801 said: - a wise and frugal government , which shall restrain men injuring
one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuit, of industry and
improvement , and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of
good government”???
The dismal and disappointing performance of Yakowa‟s government on all the threshold of his promises
are legendary and may collectively turn out to be a mockery of his age, education, experience and exposure.
The promises of Good Governance for the vast majority of people in Kaduna State have turn out to be a
mirage. Hopes of abundant lives were overtaken by genocide, despair, penury and decay resulting largely
from the ineptitude, open partisanship in the conflict and mindless corruption of government.

Rule of law which is the cornerstone of good governance is abused with growing impunity, pretensions and
tactless pursuit of a parochial agenda that is self destructive in a democratic setting. Infrastructures are
decaying by the day; workers are impoverished with inhuman abuse of due process in tampering with their
careers just to prove that there is a historic change of guards at Sir kashim House.
Public Office holders with tenure based appointments screened and cleared by the State Assembly such as
the Local Government service Commission and the State Universal Basic Education Board are sacked to
pave way for cronies who would ensure confidentiality in looting and to further consolidate the travesty of
justice inflicted on the State by Yakowa.
It is a big shame that the Senator and some Members of the National Assembly representing southern
Kaduna at the National Assembly have to voice their concern over continuous threats of security of lives in
many parts of their constituency at a time when their big Lamgba (brother) is calling the shots by spending
over a billion on Security that is nowhere to be found.
It is now an open secret that most of those who worked tirelessly from the highest level to the grassroots to
usher in this government into power are bitterly regretting their action, this is more so in his primary
constituency of the Czar of Failure, the nooks and crannies of Southern Kaduna apart from the few members
of the kitchen cabinet which I pity in the long run.
What do you expect from a cabinet that have a Secretary to the state government whose inordinate ambition
is to inherit the kingdom of his new master as if the political ambition of a person is morally stronger than
the cry of justice of Eleven Thousand Internally Displaced Persons and nearly a thousand souls mass
murdered on account of their ethno-religious background.
What can anyone make of a committee of rehabilitation chaired by a celebrated „AGIP‟ any government in
power lacking in both wisdom and conscience to contemplate making monetary gains out of the suffering of
Widows and Orphans. The greed to eat using any available alibi milked the State treasury dry without so
enough money to pay salaries when and as due and or attend to infrastructural deficiencies.
The humble and often underrated Kaduna Motor Cycles Operators Association aka OKADA Riders have
done themselves a lot of good in public estimation by reconstructing the Kano Road-by-Abeokuta Culvert
which the State and Local Government have collectively failed to repair.
The global value of entrepreneurship as a positive force in society was equally attested when the Nigerian
foremost entrepreneur Dr. Aliko Dangote donated the Sum One Hundred thousand Naira in cash and Fifty
Thousand Naira in kind to the victims of ethno-religious cleansing in Southern Kaduna which resulted
largely from the inaction of Yakowa where the Kaduna State Government can only offer the Sum of Fifteen
Thousand Naira only to rent house and move out the victims residing at the Mando IDP Camp to stop further
embarrassments of government via the regular visit of researchers, Human Rights Groups and journalists.
Perhaps the alleged Billion spent for security covers the millions used to divide and rule the victims through
groups or quasi committees one of which is coordinated by the same Allahmagani in collaboration with the
Hausa Fulani Yakowa Campaign group. May be the purported Billion could have been used to divide and
rule the victims using ethnicity into Hausa and Fulani headed by Lawal Yakawada, the Secretary to the State
Government with a promise to create the Office of Special Adviser to the Governor on Nomadic Matters at
the state and Local Government Levels as a bribe to the Fulani not to avenge the mass murder mated on their
loved ones and their herds of cattle without justification.

A further testimony to the double standard of the Governor that his Government can afford the sum of Fifty
Thousand Naira per day paid to some Miyetti Allah Chieftains from public coffers of meeting with some
informants but can only offer the primary victims the paltry sum of Fifteen Thousand Naira.
vi) In lieu of conclusions.
If Governor Yakowa is serious about restoring peace and harmony in Kaduna State he should simply come
out and be the Statesman he deserved to be by avoiding his self-seeking aids, sycophants and other ethno-
religious bigots operating at the background who are more concerned with personal gains that in finding
lasting and sustainable solution to recurring breach of peace in the State. He should know when the deeds or
misdeeds of this regime are ultimately compiled it is his name that would bear the cross as the buck stops at
his table.
The cheapest and easiest path of peace is justice and Good Governance no more no less. Anybody who
thinks or said peace and harmony are attainable via injustice should go back and reread history objectively
and comprehensively to discover that the struggle for justice is not only morally superior to but have always
defeated the might of sword and temporal powers usually after a long and protracted strives.
In Southern Kaduna peace is attainable simply by ensuring that the aggressors regardless of their ethno-
religious background should face the full weight of the law while the victims should be compensated through
a true and sincere mediation and reconciliation not with billions or through propaganda. Equally important
the obnoxious practice of tagging citizens as settlers in their own country regardless of for how many
centuries to lived in a place is just unacceptable.
The unfortunate practice of Indigenes versus settler very common in Southern Kaduna whereby Nigerians
from other parts of the country and indigenous people who profess a different Religion from their kiths and
kins are mass murdered at the slightest opportunity must give way to mutual accommodation and symbiotic
coexistence. There are several people of Southern Kaduna extraction in other parts of Nigeria operating in
virtually all fields of human endeavors; why is the case different in Southern Kaduna?
Nigerians should be concerned with everything happening in the all parts of the country including Southern
Kaduna because it may sooner or later affect them be positively or negatively. Sometimes seemingly local
issues or little crisis if poorly handled can degenerate into major conflict with far reaching implications.
Before Boko Haram launched its bombing attacks many analysts believe it was a local issue of Muslims
versus Muslims conflict or at best it is a matter of concern to Borno State mainly. As distant as it was
perceived the attacks on the Force Head Quarters, the United Nations and recent bombing of worshipers on
Christmas Day at Madalla that provoked widespread outrage across the country proved beyond doubt the
above point.
The case of ethno-religious cleansing of Muslims in Southern Kaduna under the guise of Post Election
Violence and earlier incidence since 1981 and the manner in which the crises are handled by successive
Governments is significant issue to be considered for its long term effect on the future of Nigeria.
There is no how about a Thousand people would be mass murdered in broad day light in this Millennium by
ethnic militias who are identified in recordings of their actions and some people busy deceiving themselves
that the victims deserved to be mass murdered just because they are part of the much hated Hausa Fulani in
Southern Kaduna. If ninety nine percent of the have forgiven the perpetrators of the genocide one percent is
enough to cause sleepless nights.

One of the Nigeria‟s negative contributions to human civilization is the art or the custom and practice of
blaming a whole religious or ethnic group on account of sins, mistakes or misadventure of an individual
member by profiling and stigmatizing an entire social group. The collectivity of the Southern Kaduna People
are like any human collection there are many good, ugly and bad members each one should be treated on his
or her own merit.
The trial of Mr. Yakowa at the unrecognized but effective courts of conscience, morality and divine sanction,
before the main trial at the ICC Hague, ECOWAS Court and the Nigeria Conventional Courts, would sooner
or later prove both interesting and inevitable. There are at least seven plaintiffs to the suit filed seeking
redress from the damages and gross abuse they suffered in the hands of Yakowa, these are the IDPs, the
relations and dependants of the killed as well as Messrs Age, Education, Experience, Exposure, Life, and
Good Governance. Their several and joint statements of claim shall form the next part of this essay.
Thank you all; keep a date with a friend of the plaintiffs as they individually present their cases for
adjudication.
Sanusih A.S. Maikudi
Picture of a butchered Nigerian at Zonkwa Kaduna State and Yakowa have failed as the Chief Security Officer of
Kaduna State to allow justice take its course.

Southern kaduna killings, the trial of yakowa and the future of nigeria. (pdf) by smaikudi

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