Southern Crimes Against Humanity -Hidden facts

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An Account of the April 2011 Genocide in
Southern Kaduna
By
Southern Kaduna Muslims Ummah
Development Association (SOKAMUDA)

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An Account of the April 2011 Genocide in Southern Kaduna
© Southern Kaduna Muslim Ummah Development Association, 2017
All rights reserved. This book is copyright and no part of it may be reproduced,
in part or in full or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of SOKAMUDA
the publisher and copyright owner.
ISBN: 978-978-55055-3-5
First published April 2017
Published by
Southern Kaduna Muslim Ummah Development Association
(SOKAMUDA)
Kaduna-Nigeria.
Printed in Nigeria by:
Pylamak Service Ltd.
Kaduna Nigeria.
Phone: 08023633763

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Preface
Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. All praise belongs to Allah the Sustainer the
Merciful. I feel highly honoured and delighted to write the foreword to this
book. The book is coming at a time SOKAMUDA is organizing the sixth year
anniversary of the event of April 2011, which does not mean celebrating the
sorrowful event per se. Rather; it gives us the opportunity of glorifying
Almighty Allah for preserving us to tell our own story about the 2011 post-
election genocide in Southern Kaduna as they occurred and with all sense of
objectivity, fairness and fear of Allah SWA.
It is a well known fact that communities and societies all over the world have a
golden time of glory and of sorrow and pain. For the Muslims Ummah of
Southern Kaduna State, the 2011 Post-election violence represents the darkest
days of sorrow and pain in its history that will continue to be remembered by
generations yet unborn. Within a period of about 48 hours, there was
premeditated mass murder and large-scale carnage hitherto unknown in the
recent history of Nigeria. Hundreds were killed; thousands were permanently
displaced; entrepreneurs were turned beggars; house and farm owners were
turned homeless and landless; and hundreds of wealthy livestock owners were
dispossessed and placed out of culture.
To worsen the state of affairs of the victims of the 2011 Post-Election Violence,
their plight, sorrow and agony were ignored by those charged with the
responsibility of their affairs, namely: the governments at the local, state and
federal levels. The International community was least responsive, as only a few
humanitarian and relief organisations came to provide minimal succour. Doubly
sad was the fact that the perpetrators remained shielded from the hands of law,
and had continued to fuel other violent conflicts.
Presently, while the Southern parts of Kaduna are today among the most
unsecured at a time that violent conflicts and criminality has continued to grow,
the Muslim communities appear to be the most vulnerable, hapless, helpless and
surviving at the mercy of erect wolves. The institutions have remained passive,
inactive and often partisan and complicit; with security agents acting on ethnic
and religious sentiments to torment and provoke the Muslim communities.
With this publication, the victims have told their stories. Some media have
covered a little of it. The several Commissions of Inquiry and Investigations
have listed some of the tribulations of the victims and some human right
organisations have published some of this. In all this however, the whole story
has not been documented. Again, most the victims of the violence are to this
day have remained as internally displaced persons, yet to be supported by any of
institutions of government; most are still without means of livelihood; and many

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are still looking forward to any form of assistance from Government that might
never come, which means continuous living in wilderness!
While this publication should have come earlier, it is coming six years after
these heinous acts occurred. We are happy that it came at last and is better than
never. The Southern Kaduna Ummah Development Association
(SOKAMUDA), is convinced that this publication will contribute to
understanding the events of the 2011 Post-Election Violence. This will form the
foundation for identifying not only the root causes of the current insecurity and
conflicts, but will help in charting a framework for sustainable peace and
security. Indeed, SOKAMUDA is strongly advocating that the victims require
respite and support from Government. They need to be resettled, provided with
security and a means of livelihoods. The education of their children and those
unfortunate orphans that are left to the mercy of humanity is essential and there
is need for Government never to gloss over their plight.
While am delighted and feel honoured to write this foreword, I must quickly
point that it is coming when SOKAMUDA is having the six years anniversary
of the event doesn’t a celebration of the event per se. Rather, it is a way of
telling our own story as they occurred and with all sense of objectivity and fear
of Allah SWA. May Allah bless the Southern Kaduna Muslim Ummah, may He
brings us peace and may He help all those striving for the return of peace to our
areas.
Alhaji Adamu Muhammad Kagarko (Marafan Kagarko)
Chairman, SOKAMUDA
April 2017

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In a book of this nature, many people have contributed immensely in making it
a reality. In this vein, SOKAMUDA is highly indebted to many individuals,
groups, institutions, friends and well-wishers, who are too numerous to be
mentioned and whose encouragement and support make this a reality. We wish
to thank them most sincerely for their supports and contributions.
In addition to the above we wish to further appreciate the immense
contributions of Alhaji Muhammdu Sani Sidi (Matawallen Jere), late Dr.
Abdullahi Yahaya Lifidin Jama`a and Prof. Abdullahi Musa Ashafa for their
commendable roles in the compilation and publication of this Book. Our special
appreciation also goes to the Technical Editorial Team made up of: Alhaji
Adamu Mohammed Kagarko, Dr. Sale Momale, Mallam Bala Adamu, Alhaji
Abdullahi Hassan Muhammed and Alhaji Kabir Muhammed Bello.
It is interesting to note that this work commenced as soon as the dust of the
2011 genocide was settling and our team of researchers made a lot of sacrifices
moving from one town, village and Internally Displaced Person’s camps and
another gathering data for this book. In this regard, we want to appreciate
Comrade Sanusi Maikudi Dan Iyan Jama’a, Yakubu Shuaibu Ashafa Sa’in
Ikulu, Malam Bala Adamu, Alhaji Abdullahi Zubairu Sarkin Fadan Jama’a,
Alhaji Abdullahi Hassan Wamban Jama’a and Dr. Bashir Usman Kurfi
Chairman of Network for Justice among others.
The idea of writing the book came during the tenure of the immediate past Exco
of SOKAMUDA under the leadership of Col. Abdu Ladan (Rtd). Other
members of the Exco whose ideas and indefatigable efforts in piloting
SOKAMUDA deserves mention here, namely: Late Ahmed Chawai; Alhaji
Abdullahi Kagarko; Comrade Suleiman Adamu Danzaki; Alhaji Hassan Jaban
Kogo; Alhaji Abdulmumini Abdu Kujama; Alaji A.M. Hussaini Idris; Alhaji
Baffa Kujama,; Aljhaji Yunusa Sanga and its indefatigable Secretary, Alhaji
Shuaibu Zubairu.
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DEDICATION
This Book is particularly dedicated to the entire Southern Kaduna Muslim
Ummah both the living and the dead;
For
The living memory of our Muslim brothers and sisters who martyred in the
numerous ethno-religious conflicts in Southern Kaduna;
And then….
To all those who love and work for peaceful co-existence, shared values and
prosperity in Nigeria, Africa and the world.

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Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgement
Dedication
Table of Content…
Chapter One
General Introduction 1-1
Chapter Two
A Background Excursion into the Nature of Muslim-Christian
Inter-Group Relations in Southern Kaduna
Chapter Three
A Glimpse at the Systematic Scenarios of Discrimination and
Decimation of Southern Kaduna Muslims
Chapter Four
Events Leading to the April 2011 Genocide in Southern Kaduna
Chapter Five
Key Actors in the Mass Murder of Southern Kaduna Muslims
Chapter Six
Records of Loss of Lives, Inventory of Losses and Sundry Matters
Chapter 7
Mass Murder of Fulbe Pastoralists in Southern Kaduna 2011 Post-Election
Violence
Chapter 8
Looking Forward to the Future
Appendices

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Chapter One
A General Introduction
Introduction
Southern Kaduna is a term that refers to the Southern Senatorial Zone of
Kaduna State. It is a plural community in terms of ethnic population and
religious affiliations. It consists of the following eight (8) Local Government
Areas: Jaba, Jama’a, Kachia, Kagarko, Kaura, Kauru, Sanga and Zangon Kataf.
The area has about 30 ethnic groups, among which include Adara (Kadara),
Jaba (Ham), Atyap (Kataf), and Bajju (Kaje) as well as the Hausa and Fulani.
The religious configuration is about 40 percent Muslim and 60 percent
Christians. Though the Muslims with about 40 percent population in Southern
Kaduna are not concentrated in a particular location but spread in the entire
nook and crannies of the Southern Kaduna, does not in any way made zone an
exclusive Christian enclave.
That the Muslim population is being targeted for decimation over time, through
a series of strategically scripted ethno-religious violence since the 1981
Kasuwan Magani market crisis that led to the killing of so many Muslims. The
most horrendous of these was the April 2011 post-election violence. It is a fact
that the unwarranted categorization of Christians as “indigenous sons and
daughters of the soil” and Muslims as ‘settlers’, or the generic but unwholesome
categorization of Southern Kaduna as a Christian enclave had all been factored
to deny Muslim communities deserving affirmative citizenship and political
rights. All over the World, ancestral origin has never been used as a criterion for
social, human and democratic rights as is being promoted by the elites of
Southern Kaduna. The Hausa and Fulbe people have been known to have
established permanent settlements in the region since time immemorial,
spanning over several centuries. Indeed, there are numerous historical records
that attest to the fact that many of the Hausa and Fulbe communities that are
today branded as settlers migrated earlier than some of the tribes.
Laws, policies and practices of governance in Nigeria are guided by the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Constitutionally, Chapter II
Section 15 (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) states that: “Accordingly,
national integration shall be actively encouraged, whilst discrimination on the
grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association
or ties shall be prohibited”. Also, the Constitution in Section 15 (3) states that
“For the purpose of promoting national integration, it shall be the duty of the
State to:
a) Provide adequate facilities for and encourage free mobility of people,
goods and services throughout the Federation.
b) Secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the Federation.

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c) Encourage inter-marriage among persons from different places of origin,
or of different religious, ethnic or linguistic association or ties; and
d) Promote or encourage the formation of associations that cut across ethnic,
linguistic, religious and or other sectional barriers.
In view of what transpired before, during and in the aftermath of April 2011
post-election violence, the spirit and content of the Nigerian Constitution has
been violated. All laws of Nigeria were infringed, and the institutions of
government charged with responsibility of enforcing and governing by
provisions of the Constitution failed to act in accordance with the laws.
Individuals, communities and leaders that acted violently, and whose identify
was obviously visible, became above the law they were not sanctioned for such
criminal activities and arson.
Beyond the scripted and well-organized killings, destruction of properties and
massive displacements of April, 2011, the Southern Kaduna Muslims felt that
the world, this time around deserves to be told and be given the true picture and
version of the whole story since the 1980s. The April 2011 killings of the
Muslim populace in Southern Kaduna, which lasted for three days because of
the failure of the Kaduna State government to deploy security agencies to
control the violence, suggests that the violent killings were premeditated,
carefully planned, mobilized, well-organized, financed and executed against. It
also suggests that the action was deliberate, and intended to terrorise the
Muslims, prevent them from exercising their democratic rights of voting in the
Governorship elections as a factor in favouring the governorship ambission of a
particular Governatorial candidate for the Kaduna State elections. The belief by
the Christian elites was that ‘as a mark of support for “our own” (Christian),
the Muslims should not be allowed to vote as they may likely vote for a Muslim
canditate’.
When violent attacks on Muslims started on 18th
April 2011, everything
humanly possible was made by Muslims, leaders of Muslim communities and
other peace loving citizens of Nigeria and the international community for the
State government to organize quick intervention to halt the killings. Sadly, the
then administration of Governors Ibrahim Yakowa and President Goodluck
Jonathan reacted with lackluster attitude, allowing mass killings and destruction
of communities to last for over three days. When intervention came at last, the
intention of the violence was achieved, which was to exterminate the major
Muslim villages and towns in the targeted areas. In the aftermath of the
violence, the State and Federal Governments passively reacted to the violence,
and largely ignored the victims. It was only when national and international
outcry persisted that the Federal Government constituted an Investigation Panel
on 11th
May 2011 (popularly referred to as the Sheikh Lemu Panel). Feeling

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challenged, the Kaduna State Government also constituted a lame-duck Judicial
Commission of Inquiry on 20th
May 2011. The recommendations by the Federal
Government’s Panel and the Kaduna State Commission of Inquiry as well as the
White Papers that emanated from the two Reports were largely left to lie in the
shelves without implementation. This left the perpetrators of the mass killings to
remain free citizens despite the heinous crimes they committed against
Muslims.
With the Kaduna State Government to implement the White Paper, particularly
the recommendation by the Commission of Inquiry to investigate and prosecute
individuals and groups indicted in the Inquiry Report, the Yokowa
administration choosed to constitute another committee, the Kaduna State Peace
and Reconciliation Committee. The Peace Committee composed of over 70
members was constituted without a single member of the victims. Thus, the
Committee ended up as a quasi-political platform that only served the interest of
government and other powerful groups mainly of Christian extraction from the
Southern Kaduna. As a consequence, many Muslim members of the Committee
abstained from its proceedings and refused to endorse its reports. This created
so much issues of legitimacy; as a consequence, the report of the Committee
remained in the shelves as well. In general therefore, the Muslim communities
of Southern Kaduna are no more secured on the highways, in their homes, in the
markets and in their places of work in the Southern parts of Kaduna State.
This book therefore provides an account of the events leading to the 2011 post-
election violence, with an overview of the dynamics of violent conflicts in the
southern parts of Kaduna State. It is an attempt to document the mass killings
and massive displacement of people on a scale unprecedented in the recent
history of Nigeria. It is structured in eight chapters, each dealing with specific
and factual information related to what happened before, during and after the
April 2011 conflicts and what needs to be done in the future for an enduaring
but desirable peace in the Southern Kaduna area.
Chapter one provides a background to understanding the challenges of inter-
communal relations and violent conflicts in Southern Kaduna. Chapter two was
an excursion to the nature of inter-group relations between Muslims and
Christians in Southern Kaduna, on one hand, the categorization of Muslims as
‘settlers’ and therefore unfit to be treated the way human beings should, and on
the other, the Christians as ‘indegenous’ or ‘hosts’. Chapter three treats the
systematic discriminations and decimative scenariors against Muslims in
Southern Kaduna and the agony they have been living with since the 1980s.
Chapter four connects the events leading to the April 2011 mass killings in
different communities, leading to the extermination of over a thousand human
lives, the destruction of Muslim settlements, means of livelihood and huge

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displacements. Chapter five discusses those culpable in the mass killings,
analyzed the roles of youths, religious leaders and the deliberate inaction of the
Kaduna State Government under the leadership of Governor Ibrahim Yakowa.
Chapter six provides the record of loss of lives, properties and means of
livelihood by the victims of the mass killings. Chapter 7 focuses on the violence
against the Fulbe communities who were living among the different
communities in Southern Kaduna and how it transformed their society from
resourceful livestock producers into displaced communities, many living in
penury and out of culture, and some living in temporary camps in different
States of Nigeria. Chapter eight takes a look into the future, and provides some
workable suggestions for guaranteeing political representation, rebuilding the
Muslim communities, promoting peace and social harmony and guaranteeing
the rights of all citizens for an enduaring communal peace.
Generally, it is worthy of note to appreciate that information contained in this
book is a collection of the accurate account from the victims and other
stakeholders that were personally involved as victims or eyewitnesses to what
occurred in the post-election violence. Pictures of some of the scenes of the
violence are provided as annex to this publication. Although the graphics are
offensive, the publication of such is to provide readers with an insight to the
nature of the impunity the mass killings were and how it was deliberately
carried out against Muslims at a time the government of the day turn the other
way when it was happening.

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Chapter Two
Muslims and Christians Intergroup Relations in Southern Kaduna
Introduction
Globally, the management of identity has been a major problem of many
nations. While many countries of the World have been able to integrate the
different ethnic nationalities, Nigeria and many other countries of Africa are
still battling the challenges of identity. Though the problem is a national issue,
the challenges of identity management is most pronounced in the central parts
of Nigeria, where religious and ethnic differences are muddled-up into politics,
land ownership and appointments into political offices. In the middle belt, the
problem of identity has been used to label citizens either as “settlers” or
“indigenes”. This dichotomy has been factored to define inter-group relations in
Southern Kaduna where one can hardly find any ethnic group claiming
autochthony.
The Southern Kaduna area, like the larger Middle Belt of Nigeria is a
geographical area that for centuries became a melting point for many people,
polities and tribes. The geographical location of the area, coupled with certain
human factors made it to enjoy immigration of people who established various
settlements, either on the plains (as was the case with the Hausa and Fulbe
people) or the numerous mountainous areas (as was the case with some of the
Bajju, Atyap, Kagoro, and Moroa and Jaba people). Located between the
established Kingdoms of the Northern and the Southern societies, many trade
routes passed through the area that promoted increased settlements of people
from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
The area of Southern Kaduna could hardly be said to have been a monolithic or
isolated tribal/ethnic entity for anybody. Therefore, the most recent claims that
there is a monopoly of identity have no roots in history. Prior to the creation of
Katsina State in 1987, the entire area called Southern Kaduna was popularly
known as Southern Zaria. The term Southern Zaria was not by coincidence, but
rather a historical fact as most of vast portions of what is today referred to as
Southern Kaduna was part of Zazzau. Zazzau, one of the most renowned Hausa
States, was established around 1536. The Kingdom annexed many of the areas
to the south, expanding at the peak of its growth to areas as far as Kwararafa
(Taraba State). Although its influence declined in the 16th
and 17th
Century, its
glory was restored after the establishment of the Zazzau Emirate following the
Jihad of the early 19th
Century. With the establishment of the Zazzau Emirate in
1805, the Emirate annexed all regions to the South, bordering Jama’a, Keffi and
Nasarawa Emirates. As a result of this, several Muslim settlements were
established, while most of the ethnic groups claiming exclusive ownership of

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southern Kaduna were found in the various mountainous areas. In 1901, the
colonialist conquered the Emirate, and later annexed other parts to establish the
Protectorate of Northern Nigeria. The colonial policy of indirect rule implied
that all the territories of Southern Kaduna were administered by the Zazzau
Emirate until the creation of Chiefdoms which started in 1987.
What is being said here is that ‘Southern Kaduna’, which replaced the term
‘Southern Zaria’, came in due to the search for a distinct identity by the
Christian elites in attempt to disassociate with the established historical ties to
Zazzau Emirate. This provided the avenue for claiming monopoly of identity
that mythically and paradoxically includes Christians and excludes the Muslims.
This is even truer that despite the historical, linguistic and cultural variation
among the ethnic groups, they find common identity in religion. With this
common identity in religion, they tend to ignore their ethnic differences and
gang up against the Muslim communities in the area.
The growth of the Hausa city states from the 15th
to the 18th
centuries was
associated with so many expeditions and warfare. Zazzau, which was the most
southerly of the Hausa States, did engage the smaller communities in constant
warfare and raid for slaves. This is reported being portrayed by the Christians
elites of today as deliberate persecution rather than historical events
characteristics of the ancients’ times.
Before the Jihad, Zazzau directly or indirectly benefitted from its dominance
over most of the ethnic nationalities southwards up to the Benue River. When
the Sokoto Caliphate was established in 1805 following the Islamic revivalist
movement, there were progressive tendencies towards integrating the non-
Hausa, non-Muslim, and non-Fulani communities of the southern Kaduna by
the Zazzau Emirate. This integrative and liberal tendency of the Zazzau Emirate
further stimulated the migration of other ethnic groups to many parts of
Southern Kaduna from 1805, who settled at the foot of the many mountainous
areas. Immigration therefore was a continuous phenomenon to the present day.
With increased security, cooperation and inter-communal relations, there was
growth in trade and commerce in the Zazzau Emirate from about 1805 till the
period of the colonial conquest. Trade with the more southerly Emirates and
Kingdoms such as Keffi, Lafia and Nasarawa led to emergence of settlements
along the trade routes. Such settlements, popularly known as Zango became
important social and economic centres and attracted diverse ethnic groups. The
need for security on the other hand led to the emergence of military zones,
popularly known as sansani. Over time, inter marriages emerged and new set of
communities were created. Many of these settlements later grew into
cosmopolitan towns dominated by Muslim populations. There were major and

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important towns that emerged during the precolonial period. They included
Zangon Kataf, Lere, Kachia, Kauru, Jere, Kagarko, Jema’a among others. Other
places with similar historical experience outside Kaduna State were Abuja,
Nasarawa, Keffi, Doma, Wase and Lafia, Loko, Awe and Garaku,
The emergence of the Hausa Muslim communities went hand in hand with the
coming of most tribe in their migratory movements. Collectively, both found
these new abode as comfort zones to live a life with their new neighbours whom
they interacted with, and over time began to be engaged in inter-tribal marriages
for generations. Over time, both the Hausa, Fulbe and the other ethnic
nationalities lost social and cultural ties with their origins, and therefore
established new ethnic nationalities. As it is today, most of the Hausa, Fulbe,
Bajju, Kaningkon, Jaba, Kagoro, Atyap and Adara ethnic groups in Southern
Kaduna knew their historical roots. For this reason, most of the people in
Southern Kaduna see themselves as indigenous people to the areas,
notwithstanding the attempt to label the Hausa and Fulbe people as alien to the
area.
Without fear of controversy, all the ethnic groups in Southern Kaduna are
products of migration. For this reason, there is no basis for the characterization
and exclusion of any group on the basis of identity either in the form of
ethnicity or religion. Argubly, the Hausa language has significantly impacted on
all the ethnic migrants in Southern Kaduna as are other areas of Northern
Nigeria. However, the rate and scale of islamisation of ethnic groups other than
the Hausa and Fulbe communities was rather very slow and efforts towards
doing that was reluctantly pursued by the Zazzau Emirate up to the period the
British conquest. The missionary activities during the colonial period largely
succeeded in converting the mainly pagan communities into Christianity, but
the mainly Fulbe and Hausa communities maintained their Islamic religion.
Nonetheless, through social interactions and inter-marriages, many members of
the diverse ethnic groups converted to the Islamic religion since the pre-colonial
period to the present day, thereby diversifying the composition of the Muslim
populations in Southern Kaduna.
Consequent upon British conquest of the Caliphate, the peaceful and
harmonious relationship (with the exception of few cases of skirmishes)
between the more economically advanced Hausa Muslim communities and the
diverse ethnic groups that accepted Christianity in Southern Kaduna was bound
to change. First, the British had earlier viewed the Caliphate in ethnic or racial
terms and had applied this misconception in its indirect rule system. Viewing
the Fulbe as a comparatively superior ‘race’ that ably conquered and ruled over
other ‘races’ most of whom were in the newly established Northern Nigeria

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Protectorate, the British initiated a kind of stereotype by one group over the
other in its deliberate divide- and-rule tactics.
This colonial approach denied the various ethnic groups in Southern Kaduna the
required flexibility, integration and opportunity to articulate both interests and
grievance in an interactive forum. Therefore, whenever there was tension, the
colonial regime became partisan and militaristic in a manner that the Native
Authority system was viewed as a Hausa-and Fulani government than a colonial
system of indirect rule. The grievance by the diverse ethnic groups on some of
the colonial policies was wrongly heaped on the leadership of the Zazzau
Emirate instead of the colonial administration. Since the Emirs were Muslims,
who also happened to be either Muslim Fulbe or Hausa, the colonial rule
widened the differences between the Muslim ethnic groups and the Christian
ethnic identities. In social policies, the colonial administration also ensured that
Christian missionaries were “kept out” from predominantly Muslim areas of
Northern Nigeria and were allowed to free access to christianise what was
described as the ‘animist’ or ‘Pagan’ ethnic groups.
The negative manipulation of identity by the British in Nigeria and the
understanding that indirect rule and the Native Authority (N.A.) system was an
Emirate affair widened the feeling of “we’ and “they”, “them” “theirs” and
“ours” beyond acceptable boundaries. This perception continued to the post-
independence period when the Northern regional government was viewed more
as a Muslim dominated administration, notwithstanding the fact that most of the
public institutions of the Northern Regional Government were dominated by
non-Muslims. In this manner, and with the emergence of elites from Missionary
schools jostling for political relevance in government, agitations for political
emancipation from a “wrongly perceived” Muslim domination became the
frontline for activism. The first form of demand for inclusion started with
demand for traditional leadership such as District Heads and later for the
creation of chiefdoms. As the agitations continued, the quest for State creation
to gain what is described as “administrative autonomy” gained momentum as it
has enormous political and economic benefits to the elites and religious leaders
of Southern Kaduna. This was evidently clear with the creation of Katsina State
out of Kaduna State in 1987, coincidentally, the same year the Kafanchan riots
occurred to demonstrate that ‘we too should be reckoned with than regarded as
underdog in the affairs of the new Kaduna State’.
The Emergence of Indigene-Settler Dichotomy
One apparent but historically warped and unprovable argument is to constantly
refer to the Muslim ethnic groups in Southern Kaduna as “settlers” and the
Christians as “indigenes” or “host” communities. This identity beyond the
incongruity of this position, both in fact and in judgment, has remained a

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familiar one especially from the 1980’s to the present day. This unreasonable
and narrow-minded proposition was meant to facilitate the fulfillment of the
vested interest of the Southern Kaduna elites, and is invariably responsible for
failure to achieve peaceful co-existence and increased social and economic
integration among the Christian and Muslim communities. Anti-Muslim
propaganda and profiling of Muslims as well as creating negative stereotypes
but which are clearly imaginary, frivolous and unjustifiable are increasingly
growing. The ethnic and indigenous question in Southern Kaduna today has
taken a dramatically new dimension, unfortunately depicted in the form of
violent conflicts and continued antagonisms.
Though reference to “Southern Kaduna” is used collectively, there is the danger
of conveying the impression that the people are monolithic. The Southern
Kaduna peoples are heterogeneous, with no common historical origin. Though
the elites have succeeded in mobilizing the Christian ethnic group to have a
common political and socio-economic agenda, each of the ethnic groups have
unique and distinct origin, culture and language. They have already been
mobilized to develop a narrow-mindedness, motivated by similar collective
temperament of anti-Muslims. Beneath this collective temperament lies serious
fragmentation within the Christian communities, although these differences are
overlooked and surmounted when it comes to unity for anti-Muslims activities
and aggression. In the most recent years, this anti-Muslim posture is forming the
most visible platform for an imagery “Southern Kaduna” consciousness.
The heterogeneity from which a common front is mobilized against the
Muslims are easily located when certain political interests are propelled by
primordial interests. Otherwise, the Southern Kaduna tribes within themselves
are too parsimonious with their identity when the Hausa/Fulani Muslims are not
the ones involved in certain capricious and humdrum issues from within. For
example, the late Agwom Oegworok (Kagoro) Malam Gwamna Awan, one of
the finest gentlemen history has produced in Southern Kaduna was said to have
a paternal Atyab background with Kagoro maternity. This rare statesman of
Southern Kaduna was brought up and trained in Kagoro and had lived all his
life in, and for the Kagoro people to even become the Chief of Kagoro. In spite
all the prosperity his personality and disposition brought to the Kagoro land
(including the attainment of First Class Chieftaincy institution, which going by
population and history, the Kagoro compared to other ethnic groups would have
hardly qualified for), his family was denied ascension to the throne. After his
death, there was strong lobby not allow “the Kagoro stool” slipped into a
dynasty established by ‘others’ whom history had shown were ‘never’
historically Kagoro.
If not that something was at stake (the only prized traditional stool in
Kagoroland and the percolate of advantages attached to it), perhaps the World

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wouldn’t have known that the great statesman the late Gwamna Awan was,
historically speaking, never ‘belonged’ to the Kagoro by ancestry, where the
world thought he actually belonged. It was the same political-economy
grievances the Southern Kaduna Muslims are being made to live with over time.
If the Southern Kaduna Muslims were to remain mere beggars and unproductive
citizens, the elites of Southern Kaduna would have been satisfied. Since the
Muslim communities are enterprising, are interested in pursuing livelihood in
farming and cattle rearing, and also aspire to contribute to the development of
the areas, state and the nation, the Christian elites do see it as a threat to their
desire for “exclusive political and economic relevance”. For this reason, the
elites in partnership with the religious leaders had engaged in massive
misinformation of Christian communities in the rural and urban areas of
Southern Kaduna to hate the Muslims and exclude them from ownership and
access to land, election into democratic institutions and denial of leadership.
Over time, many of the ethnic groups are toying this line of thinking, hence the
growing aggressive tendencies against the Muslims populations.
That simply means that any discussion of the attitudes and behavior of the
collective Southern Kaduna dwells both vertically and horizontally on
“imaginary” grievances rather than any tangible reason. The Southern Kaduna
Muslims are mere scapegoats and victims of struggles and competition for
control of the political and economic contestation in a bigger Kaduna State. The
exception is a major lacuna separating the reasonable statesmen from the
irresponsibles, especially when it comes to decimating the Muslims. The
irresponsibles would not heed to the restraining logic of the reasonable
statesmen and in the labourious efforts to rigidly demarcate a boundary between
the Southern Kaduna Muslim citizens from Christian counterpart as partners in
the quest for viable economic development of the area. This has heightened
stereotyping along ethnic and religious lines in the form of ‘we’ vs ‘they’, ‘us’
vs ‘them’, ‘ours’ vs ‘theirs’ or in the form of ‘our land’ or ‘ indigenous host
communities’ vs ‘settler communities’.
Migration is a natural phenomenon from the beginning of times. Depending on
the push or pull factors, people all over the world move individually or in
groups in search of comfort zones. Not even in Southern Kaduna, but in Nigeria
of today, there is hardly any ethnic group that does not trace its origin or history
from a different place, either from afar or near, rather than the unprovable
warped claim of autochthony. For example, the Kagoro people always say that
they left their ancestral home land in Bogoro in the present day Tafawa Balewa
LGA of Bauchi State as recent as the 19th
century to settle on the Kagoro hills
and were said to have met the pastoral Fulani living over time in the area and
even paid tribute to them. Similarly, the Kurama were said to have migrated
from Kano southwards to settle in their present location. The Ayu had a Katsina

19. 19
origin from where they migrated. The Ham have a popular history of migration
from outside their present location. Other ethnic groups claiming indegeneship
such as Adara, Koro, Numana, Ninzom, Kaningkom and Kagoma people would
mention where they migrated from.
In the process of migrations, people met and separated, people intermingled and
intermeshed. This fact is what Ibrahim James, a Professor of History who hails
from Southern Kaduna emphasized in his book: Studies in the History, Politics
and Cultures of Southern Kaduna Peoples Groups, Ladsoma Press Ltd Jos,
1997. By migration here we mean the dynamic process by which people of
diverse origins, backgrounds, history and cultures move outside their
‘homelands’ into far or near places, mostly in search of comfort zones for
themselves. Through this process, there were series of integrations and
assimilations of diverse ethnic groups into others in what is today referred to as
Southern Kaduna.
As noted earlier, Islam had been in Southern Kaduna as long as the Hausa and
Fulbe people had lived in the area. The Islamisation of other ethnic groups in
the area started in the early 19th
Century through commerce and preaching.
There has never been the case of “forced” islamisation for the 100 years of the
Sokoto Caliphate. As earlier highlighted, there were substantial communities of
Fulani and Hausa communities in Southern Kaduna long before the jihad of the
19th
century. In addition, there were hundreds of Hausa merchants who were
criss-crossing the ‘Middle Belt’ area for trading activities and later for the slave
raids that characterized the economy of merchantilism, where slaves were sold
to European slave merchants.
The 19th
century marked an important migratory period, when diverse
communities were searching for shelter as a response of internecine conflicts
among the then “pagan” ethnic groups. The hilly areas of the Middle Belt
offered minority tribal communities sanctuary against slave raids from stronger
neighbours. With colonialism marking an end to slave raids and internecine
warfare, Hausa and Fulbe settlements such as Jema’a, Jere, Kachia, Kagarko,
Zangon Kataf, Matsirga, Lere, Kauru and Saminaka were among the early urban
settlements that sprawled up in Southern parts of the then Zazzau Emirate. Over
time, many of ethnic groups living in the hills descended to the plains to live
proximae to these Hausa and Fulbe communities. It is these historical facts that
the elites of the diverse ethnic communities do not want to hear, trying to
reverse and concoct a new history for Southern Kaduna.
The disinclination to read the history of the Islamic Jihad in Northern Nigeria
made many to remain ignorant of the fact that Jema’an Danroro Emirate was
established in 1810 under the leadership of its first Emir, Mallam Usman from
Kebbin Yabo who ruled between 1810 and 1833. This well known fact has been

20. 20
documented in such deeply researched historical accounts such as C.G. Ames,
The Highland Chieftaincies, vol. IV, Gazetteers of the Northern Provinces
(London, 1943, pp. 224–6); J. Hogben and A.H.M. Kirk–Green, The Emirates
of Northern Nigeria (London, 1966, p. 432); R.A. Adeleye, Power and
Diplomacy in Northern Nigeria, 1804–1906 (London, 1960, p. 140) and H. A.
S. Johnson, The Fulani Empire of Sokoto (London, 1967, p. 167). Incidentally,
another important, but not so well known account, which also documented this
fact is that of Timotheus Adamu Aku of the Ninzam ethnic group of Southern
Jema’a, entitled: The Transformation of Political Authority in Southern Jema’a,
c. 1800 – 1904 (A.B.U, Zaria, B.A. History research essay, June, 1974, p.33).
Furthermore, the history of inter-community relations has also indicated high
level of intermeshing and assimilation. This is evident amongst the Sanga
people in relation to Jema’a. Some ethnic groups in Southern Kaduna had in the
course of history lost their original Hausa or Fulani identity such as the Ayu and
Moroa who claim Katsina origin, Kurama who claim Kano ancestry and
Ashafawa with Zamfara/Sokoto ancestry. In fact there is no ethnic group in
Southern Kaduna who in the process of migrations had not met numerous
groups of the pastoral Fulbe of the Kaceccere in Southern Kaduna, who
themselves had earlier migrated from many parts of Hausaland and Borno, and
who were grazing their cattle in the area much earlier than the arrival of many
of the ethnic groups in Southern Kaduna. It was these pastoral Fulbe who, prior
to the 19th
century Islamic Jihad, became the primary target of Mallam Usman,
the itinerant Islamic preacher who established the Jema’a Emirate. Indeed,
Mallam Usman’s first wife was from the pastoral Fulbe while his other wives
were from the diversed ethnic groups. The descendants from these wives are the
heir apparent to the throne of the Emirate. Thus, in the early years, the pastoral
Fulbe made up most of the population of Jema’a when the Emirate was
established in 1810.
This predominantly Fulbe community, was soon to experience a profound
identity transformation. Isa Monai Pasha, a historian, cited Richard Lander in
reference to the record of Captain Clapperton’s Last Expedition to Africa,
(London, 1830, vol. II, p. 294) shows that by the end of the 19th
Century,
Jema’an Danroro had become a town with a heterogeneous, closely related
population, which included not just the Fulbe and the assimilated Sangawa, but
also Hausa traders, Nupe artisans, Bornoan scholars as well as other traders and
artisans from the surrounding communities (I.M. Pashl, The Transformation and
Evolution of the Pastoral Fulbe Community in Jema’a Area C. 1800 – 1933,
A.B.U Zaria, B.A. History research essay, June 1976).
Relatedly, and in account to what has been happening elsewhere in Northern
Nigeria, about the same time, it is reasonable to believe that the same kind of
identity transformation was, and still is, taking place among the Kaningkon,

21. 21
Atyap, Bajju, Ninden, Fantsuan and other communities around the Jagindi area
of the Jema’a Emirate who have transformed into viable Fulbe communities.
Thus, settlements such as Jagindi, banuwaje, Yola, Kanyo, Danle, Gwole Kofa,
Dangoma and Mungwai were mostly descendants of former Fulbe slaves who
have become assimilated into the Pullo social order and have learnt to speak
Fulbe, performing Fulbe ceremonies and even mastered Pulako etiquette (I.M.
Pashi, pp. 61–2).
The same kind of heterogeneous mix, which characterized the evolution and
formation of the Jema’an Danroro community in the 18th
Century, was what
essentially took place in the case of the emergence and growth of Kafanchan
during the 19th
Century. From its founding in 1927 as a railway junction station
with three houses till date, Kafanchan has maintained its essentially
cosmopolitan character. Apart from the Jema’an Danroro community which
was moved en masse into the new settlement by the British in 1933, Kafanchan
has from the beginning according to Kantiyok James, attracted people
especially Southerners to come and seek for jobs with the railway and also buy
and sell to the train passengers. This is the beginning of the Southern migration
especially Ibos and Yorubas to the area. Apart from Igbo and Yoruba semi-
skilled artisans, amongst the migrants Hausa were Nupe, Tiv, Edo, Birom,
Angas and others who contributed to the rapid growth of the town. Therefore,
as far as we are concerned and as much as we care to read our history
reasonably correct, who is an indigene or a settler in Southern Kaduna between
the Muslim communities and their Christian counterparts is not the question.
Rather, the question should be who is not a settler and who is not an indigene?
It is only when certain interest are at stake even among those claiming
autochthony that the indigene/settler issue comes up.
Conclusion
The history of migrations in the Southern Kaduna area as well as in the
formation of its tribal societies, cultures and territoriality debunks any claim to
indegeneship and settlership characterization of Muslim communities in the
Southern parts of Kaduna State. As was noted earlier, the demographic
configuration and re-configuration of Southern Kaduna had witnessed a
continuous process of reconstitution through waves of migrations and
assimilation that has proven to be dynamic and in motion. Having noted that
every ethnic group in Southern Kaduna came from somewhere, the question
then should rather be who is not an indigene and who is not a settler? There are
no historical evidence to suggest or to support any claim or characterization of
Muslim communities as settlers. Rather, the question should be who is not a
settler and who is not an indigene? That is to say, whose progenitors were
earlier settlers and whose were latter settlers? Another question that may also
be asked is that how many generations of the earlier and latter settlers of one’s

22. 22
family should be counted before the so-called “settler” becomes an indigene.
And if that is to be done, who is to determine that and using what parameters of
historical interaction? This then renders the claim of so-called ancestral land as
the basis of indigeneity as provocative, retrogressive, warp, and a failure of
reason. Sadly, this narrow perspective has been allowed to become the mindset
and even an official policy of many of the traditional institutions in the
southern parts of Kaduna State. It has also become an instrument applied to
maltreat, discriminate, displace, kill and maim Muslims. It has also been used
as the basis for the confiscation of social, economic and land rights of many
Muslim communities, as well as the rejection of their cultural and traditional
leadership.

23. 23
Chapter Three
A Glimpse at the Systematic Scenarios of Discrimination and
Decimation of Southern Kaduna Muslims
Introduction
The indigenous Muslims communities in Southern parts of Kaduna have
suffered undue indiscrimination in spite of their ancient heritage in the area.
They have arguably lived in those communities longer than some ethnic groups
describing them today as “settlers”. This became more apparent when the
colonial administration merged the then independent Districts of Jaba, Kagoro
and Moroa to create the Jama’a Federation in 1957.
There are several forms of discrimination against the Muslim communities,
which often lead to violent conflicts that often results in several deaths and
destruction of properties. This Chapter highlights the various forms of
discriminations, and profiled some of the major violent events that were
unleashed on Muslim communities since the eruption of the first major violence
at KasuwanMagani in 1981. By this, the Southern Kaduna region is
characterised by lamps living where erect wolves are being bred.
Discrimination against Muslims
The Muslims communities are facing gradual and well-designed threats of
annihilation and extinction. They have suffered untold hardship in the hands of
ethnic leaders, uncultured youths, political thugs who often molest and
intimidate Muslims. The rights of access to farm lands, grazing lands, sites for
building house and places of worship are often denied. Specifically, the Muslim
communities faced with numerous problems including:
a) Unprovoked attacks and killings as witness in the various ethnic religious
disturbances since 1981;
b) Destruction of properties during violent disturbances;
c) Denial of some fundamental constitutional rights to freedom of religion,
restriction of movements, confiscation of personal properties and assets
by communities without recourse to justice and denial of other social and
cultural rights;
d) Denial of admission spaces and scholarship to pursue tertiary institutions
are often discriminated upon through the technically constrictive and
inadmissible application of the “son and daughter of the soil” principle.
The case of returning the school taken over by Government in the 1970s
by the Chairman of Jema’a Local Government in 1990-1991 (Mr.
MikiahTakwat) is a case in point where all schools in all towns populated

24. 24
by Muslims were returned to the missionaries but all others in the
Christian areas were left under the LEAs including his native village of
Tudun-wadaKaningkon. The reason behind that action was to deny the
children of the Muslims to acquire even the basic education.
e) The Southern Kaduna Muslims are made to live with several forms of
injustices in political representation at the State and Federal levels, in
spite ofthe significant number of qualified Muslims in the area.
Violent Conflicts against Muslim Communities
In the last 33 years since 1981, so much unprovoked and premeditated violence
had been visited on Muslims as mentioned previously in different locations
across the entire Southern Kaduna landscape. The overview of the attacks is
given as follows:
i. The 1981 KasuwanMaganiCrisis:This crisis started when the tribal
warlords of the Adara tribe decided to uproot Hausa traders to take over
Adara land, by claiming that the land exclusively belonged to them
(Adara People). The Muslims were referred to as “settlers” and in the
process about 100 Muslims were killed and property worth millions of
naira belonging to the Muslims was destroyed.
ii. The 1986 Yarkasuwa Crisis:This was a conflict that arose following a
contest over the district headship ofYarkasuwa inLere Local Government
Area when the Kuramatribalists were opposed to the candidature of a
prominent Kurama person who happened to be a Muslim, whom they said
dared not contest the District Headship in preference to Kurama
Christian. And in a premeditated violence they organized, it led to the
unfortunate killing of over 100 Muslims and properties worth over N40m
destroyed.
iii. The 1987 KafanchanCrisis: This occurred when a certain Rev. “Bako”
who was supposedly a Christian convert from Islam, turned the campus
of the then old Kaduna State’s Advanced Teachers College Kafanchan
against the spirit of plurality into what he dubbed “Jesus Campus” while
also provoking Muslim students by quoting and interpreting the Qur’an
out of context in order to denigrate their religion. Mayhem and
destruction meted against Muslim Students on the Campus of the
College, which immediately spread into Kafanchan town, Zaria, Kaduna,
Katsina, etc, where innocent lives of over 300 Muslims perished and
property worth over N500m (five hundred million Naira) destroyed.
iv. The 1992 ZangonKataf Crisis: This infamous violence against the
Muslims occurred when Kataf ethnic militia decided to take the law into
their hands to attack the residents of ZangonKataf and innocent travelers
passing through Zango town simply because they envied the progressive
and entrepreneurial dynamics of the Muslim traders of Zango. This was
under the pretext of the Hausa traders’ resistance to the attempt to

25. 25
relocate a market in which no Kataf person had a trading interest. In the
process they destroyed the whole town and killed about 1,528 Muslims in
broad day light, with the victims all Muslims (refer to appendix 13 of
ZangonKatafMarket riot and subsequent riotsJudicial Commission of
Enquiry Report Summary of those who died during the crisis). When the
Justice Karibi Whyte Judicial Tribunal found some people guilty and
sentenced them to death and some on prison terms, the Federal
Government only pardoned them, which never served any deterrence and
subsequent violence against the Muslims became worse each time it
occurred.
v. The 1999 Kafanchan Crisis: Here, the warriors of Christian dominated
ethnic tribes decided to prevent the installation of a new Emir of Jama’a,
a throne that was established following the 19th
century Jihad in
Hausaland and had been in existence since 1810. That the Emirate, a
product of the said Jihad was an exclusive customary right and traditional
preserve of the descendants of Mallam Usman of KebinYabo who
established the emirate by conquest and assimilation of some ethnic
nationalities in the area. The militia went on heinous rampage thereby
resulting in the killing of over45 Muslims in Kafanchan and environs.
vi. The 2000 Sharia Riots: This violence was visited on the Southern
Kaduna Muslims when Christians especially of Southern Kaduna
engaged in violent protest against a decision of the Kaduna State
Government to implement a slightly moderate version of Shari’ah Law in
Kaduna State. This myopic and ill-conceived protest led to the death of
hundreds of people orchestrated by tribal war lords in the name of ethno-
religious preservation. It is pertinent to note that Shari’ah has nothing to
do with adherents of other faiths, even as the State Government had
dissuaded and reassured non-Muslims of their inalienable rights. Atypical
example of total displacement of Muslim communities in Kachia
Township, Gwantu, FadanKagoma and others. Uptil this moment, the
Muslim communities of FadanKagoma are not allowed to return to their
abode despite long period of stay and intermarriages with Kagoma people
not even the reign of Late Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa who was an
indigene of Kagoma.
vii. The 2010KidacheCrisis in Chawai Chiefdom: In this, cattle herders were
attacked and many of them killed after they fled the killings that trailed
them from Plateau State. The killings were carried out by people
masquerading as Chawai Christian Militia.
viii. The 2011 Post-Election Violence: This broke out following the April
2011 Presidential elections in many parts of northern Nigeria. The
Christian political leaders saw an opportunity to further weaken the
defenseless Southern Kaduna Muslims in the vulnerable communities of
Zonkwa, Matsirga, Kafanchan, Kwoi, GidanMaga and many other

26. 26
settlements, including the dispersed houses of the Fulbe communities.
Within three days, over a thousand people were killed. Specifically, the
white paper on the report of Kaduna State Judicial Commission of
Enquiry of the Post-Election Violence of April 2011acknowledged that
atleast 703 people were killed in the Southern parts of Kaduna State (See
the white paper on report of Kaduna State Judicial Commission of
Enquiry of the Post Election Violence of April 2011, page 58, Items 1, 3,
4, 7 and 9).
ix. The Destruction of Southern Kaduna Muslim Praying Ground in 2013
and 2014: For no just a cause, war mongering and well armed Christian
youths had severally and with impunity and without any slightest
provocation whatsoever decided to pull down the fence of the Kafanchan
Central Eid praying ground, which has been in existence for over 100
years in an unprovoked protest to demonstrate apparent hatred for Islam
and Muslims in the town. Neither the Jema’a Local Government Council
nor the Kaduna State Government made any arrest and prosecution of the
perpetrators and the Southern Kaduna Muslims were left to recourse to
fate. Because government did not reprimand the perpetrators, it embolden
the Christian youths in Kachia town to equally pull down the fence of a
similar Central Eid praying ground, first in 2013, which generated serious
tension and some spirited and peace-loving Christian elders intervened,
with the Local Government Chairman (MrJoseph Agite) promising to
undertake the repairs, which he never did. When the Muslims got tired of
waiting, they repaired it themselves only to be pulled down again in May
2014. This was the recipe that caused the crisis in Kachia that led to some
deaths and many Muslim settlements were torched, leaving them in their
hundreds as internally displaced persons taking refuge in NASA military
barracks.
x. The Killing of a Muslim Motorcycle Operator in 2013: The boy was
attacked and murdered in cold blood while sleeping in his parents’ house,
which had previously been set ablaze by rampaging Christian Youth
during the post-election violence in Kafanchan. The reason for this
dastardly act remained a mystery to us as no previous provocation of
whatever nature was mentioned. In addition, the assailants had the
effrontery to use their victim’s GSM phone to place a call to the last
caller on the phone who happened to be an uncle to the deceased in Kano
informing him in a victorious tone to come and remove the ‘carcass’ of
his relation so that it does not decompose and pollute their environment.
This was planned to spark some reactions, which it did, leading to further
crisis that left many homeless and many others dead.

27. 27
Government Actions or Inactions
The genocidal attacks and mass murder of so-called ‘settlers’ by so-called
indigenous people at the slightest given opportunity have been going on since
the KasuwanMagani incidence of 1981. Since then, no one was ever brought to
book on account of this monumental crime against humanity, where collectively
put, thousands of persons were eliminated and property worth precious of
fortunes destroyed. The process of the latest round of elimination as in Zonkwa
in April 2011 was even video-recorded by the perpetrators who took pride in
doing what they did. Most of these assailants were not only identifiable in the
pictures and clips, but also apprehensible. In spite of that, the perpetrators were
indicted by the Kaduna State Judicial Commission of 2011 Crisis and also the
White Paper that was released by the Government, as discussed earlier, the
governments say and did nothing to neither reprimand the perpetrators nor
compensate the victims. The question is with this government inaction, how do
the Muslims feel safe and how can a genuine reconciliation be achieved? And
while the assailants today roam the streets freely and no deterrence was
established, how are the Muslims sure that this was not a veiled green light to
the perpetrators to freely reenact the same gory game in the future over and over
again against Muslim communities as they deem necessary, especially that the
band of these miscreants were seen as heroes by their people? What is more
unfortunate than this?
Kaduna State had cause to always constitute Judicial Commissions of Enquiry
to investigate crisis that occurred in 1981, 1987, 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2000 in
the past is a fact and that there was apparent inaction and lack of political will
by the various Kaduna State governments over time to tactically surreptitiously
sweep under the carpet the Reports of the previous Judicial Commissions of
Enquiry it variously and severally established.
At the end of the three days violence, over a thousand Muslims were brutally
massacred. Several others were seriously injured. Thousands of homes,
hundreds of places of worship and various properties were completely
destroyed. In all this, Muslims, irrespective of ethnic affiliation, were the
target.For this reason, Muslims ofKamantan (Anghan), Kaje (Bajju), Jaba
(Ham), Bakulu (Ikulu), Kagoro (Oegworok), Ayu, Numana, Fulani and Hausa
people were not spared from these dastardly acts of inhumanity of man against
his fellow mankind simply on account of political expediency.
The assailants, perpetrators, financiers and patrons, especially in the Zonkwa
massacre were identified by the survivors who witnessed the entire episode
before they were completely displaced from their places of abode in several
settlements around Kaduna State and beyond. Sadly, even while the Kangaroo
Peace and Reconciliation Committee set up by YakowaAdministration who

28. 28
refused to release the white paper that indicted some of the assailants, the
government as will be seen later, decided to do nothing as if nothing criminal
and heinous against the sanctity of human lives and against the Nigerian
constitution were committed. This would be appreciated better when the issues
that brought the so-called post election violence is understood, which provided
another ample opportunity for the genocide of April 2011 on the Southern
Kaduna Muslims, this time around with full government protection especially
its reluctance to prosecute the offenders, take care of the victims, let alone
compensating them.
Conclusion
It is now understood that:
a. Over the past 30 years, life of the ordinary Southern Kaduna Muslim has
become brutish and unbearable and the economic base of these otherwise
vibrant people had been destroyed; in Kachia, ZangonKataf, Kafanchan,
Matsirga, Kwoi, Kamuru-Ikulu, GidanMaga and many other places,
houses, markets and properties have been wantonly destroyed just to spite
the Southern Kaduna Muslim and render them economically vulnerable.
b. That against any common logic and historical facts, Southern Kaduna
Christian Groups wrongly believe, and have amply demonstrated so
openly that the area called Southern Kaduna is their exclusive preserve.
They have demonstrated this violently and severally, apart from the
campaigns of calumny, media propaganda, subterfuge and intimidation.
This was with the aim to having everything for themselves while denying
the Southern Kaduna Muslims any share or partaking in the affairs of the
area.
c. That the moral deficiency, philosophical barrenness and crass subjectivity
of public discourse emanating from the Southern Kaduna tribal arsonists
have for a long time reduced public commentary into an instrument of
propaganda, self-seeking sycophancy and costly blackmail. It is common
to find uninformed foot soldiers, hired guns and hired pens, busy doing
the bidding of their pay masters. The masters of temporal gods of power
and ill-gotten wealth are worshiped by sycophants while several patriots
notable Southern Kaduna Muslims are intimidated by severe pains and
disappointment of underdevelopment and injustice into unhelpful silence.

29. 29
Chapter Four
Events Leading to the April 2011 Post-Election Genocide in Southern
Kaduna
Introduction
The 2011 Presidential Election provided the opportunity for the events leading
to the mass killings and displacement of the Muslim communities in Southern
Kaduna. The death of the President Umaru Musa Yar’adua provided the
opportunity for the ascendency of the then Vice President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan as the President. Testimonies showed that the religious consideration
played on the choice of the then Governor Namadi Sambo as Vice President in
order to smoothly provide the opportunity for the Deputy Governor from
Southern Kaduna to become Governor of Kaduna State. This was aptly captured
in a speech delivered by the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Hassan
Kukah at the burial of Governor Yakowa. He stated on behalf of all Southern
Kaduna Christians that: “We thank President Goodluck Jonathan and those who
advised him to create the opportunity that enabled Mr. Yakowa to keep this
appointment with destiny”.
The Governorship and Presidential Campaigns
Unlike at the federal level where the argument and counter – argument for
zoning became famous, in Kaduna State, it was not the case and that prompted
others to compete for the Governorship in the PDP primary elections, which
Yakowa had later won. The emergence of Yakowa’s candidature in Kaduna
State like the PDP primaries at the federal level that returned Goodluck
Jonathan, polarized the electorates in the State between those who would want
to have a feel of what other political parties could offer against the statusquo
represented by the party in government since 1999 and those who felt that a
Christian incumbent was contesting and the statusquo be maintained. Most
electorates in the State compared the regime of Makarfi (1999 – 2007) with that
of Namadi/Yakowa (2007–2011) and felt that change became inevitable. For
those who wanted the statusquo out of constricted primordial ties and who
viewed the Yakowa’s candidature was a golden opportunity for a Christian
became desperate and were making hell out of the issue in a manner that
threatened the peaceful atmosphere in Southern Kaduna.
To worsen the situation, the political polarization in Kaduna State was given a
religious coloration. The Christians saw it as an opportunity for a Christian
incumbent to continue as the Governor. The chanting of such electioneering
slogan as “Nigeria and Kaduna for Christ” to mean support for Jonathan at
federal level and Yakowa at State level to sell the candidature of both
candidates, rather reinforced not only the sense of social distance among the

30. 30
people, but created tension and distrust in the interface between democratization
and political mobilization of the electorates. In the Muslim areas of the State,
the slogan in some quarters was "Kaduna sai mai salla", implying that the
Muslims will only accept a Muslim Governor. The Christians saw it as a golden
opportunity to produce an elected Christian Governor in a State dominated by
Muslims, with the slogan of marginalization and relying not on voters
acceptability (if at all democracy is a game of number) but on the ‘almighty
PDP federal Government’. The slogan among the Southern Kaduna Christians
was ‘Kaduna for Christ’. For the Muslims in the northern part of Kaduna State,
responded to such sloganeering in what many saw as an affront. They
subsequently adopted a counter slogan, saying ‘Kaduna ‘sai mai Sallah’
(Kaduna for a Muslim Governor) as earlier stated.
Here, democracy ceased to be mobilization of electorates along rational and free
competition to elect men and women that were competent and credible to
manage the affairs of people’s common concerns, it became a politics of
ethnicity and religion and in the spirit of fairness being taught by Islam, Namadi
picked Yakowa as his running mate against such popular and grassroots
politicians like the late Isaah Balat and late Garba Ali Madaki. For most people
outside Southern Kaduna, in the buildup of the 2011 elections, late Yakowa
seemed to lack the necessary competence. There was the genuine apprehension
that Yakowa might get indulged in executive partialities to controversially
favour ‘his own’ and disfavor ‘others’.
But contesting as an incumbent provoked much agitation with apparent
desperation from almost every segment in the State among those who dreamt
for politics of purposeful change, especially in the apparent need for a fresh air,
which the party ruling the state since 1999 seemed to suffocate the political
terrain by 2011. For this, the electorates became divided between those that
appeared to prefer CPC’s against those in support of the PDP status quo.
In the midst of this polarization, the question of who would win the
Governorship in Kaduna State became very tensed was the fear in Southern
Kaduna that voting would be based on religious affiliation as construed from the
PDP campaigns sloganeering. Hence their genuine sympathy with the
candidature of Yakowa became the issue. Sadly, however, in the unfolding
circumstances, people were wrongly made to view the CPC candidates at
national and state levels as candidates of the Muslims would overwhelmingly
vote against Jonathan and Yakowa’s PDP respectively. On the other hand, the
PDP with Christian candidates at national and state levels was viewed as a
Christian party. Even across the country, most non-Muslims wrongly viewed
the CPC as a predominantly Muslim party. This rather climaxed the mutual
suspicion and antagonism between followers of different faiths in Kaduna State.

31. 31
The release by INEC of number of registered voters in each State according to
Senatorial zones further sent jitters on the side of Southern Kaduna Christians
who saw that if the voting pattern should take religious patterns, the outcome
would not be favorable to Governor Yakowa, even if the whole of Southern
Kaduna would give block votes to all PDP candidates. Yakowa would certainly
not be returned as the Governor. The Christians did all they could to have a
single contestant in the person of Yakowa.
Many of the Christian elites were also not happy with the candidature of Nenadi
Esther Usman who was married to a Muslim. Her victory at the primaries of the
PDP was the result of massive support from Muslim members of the PDP.
Evidently, the political landscape was overheated. There was substantial interest
by religion and community leaders. There was the quest for "winning" at all
cost.
This situation was not only in Kaduna State, but the greater parts of northern
Nigeria. There was an evident frustration and disenchantment with the federal
Government. There was great anxiety and quest for change of political
leadership. To worsen the political tension, there was fear that the elections
might be rigged in favour of the PDP Government. Many people were prepared
to resist the perceived rigging.
Violent Reactions to the Result Declarations of the Presidential Election
The announcement at INEC Headquarters of the Presidential election figures in
Kaduna State, which many viewed as incredibly nearly 50–50 between CPC and
the PDP presidential candidates, seemed to provoke protests within Kaduna and
Zaria, as against the figures people were expecting to be the result. This took the
form of what appeared as attacks on residences of prominent Muslim PDP
stalwarts accused of complicity in the rigging of the elections in favour of the
PDP. Similar incidents were to happen simultaneously in some northern states
where there was alleged rigging in favour of the PDP presidential candidate.
This, in Southern Kaduna was to provide an opportunity to ‘teach the Muslims a
bitter lesson’. The news spread like bush fire that Kaduna was engulfed in crisis
and that PDP stalwart were being killed.
Events in Southern Kaduna
The killing started in Zonkwa in the evening of 18th
April, 2011and spread into
other parts of Southern Kaduna area almost instantaneously. The first reported
killing was that of a truck driver passing through Zankwa Township. When the
information that Muslims communities were being attacked at Zankwa spread
other towns started attacking Muslims as well. Road blocks were mounted along
all high ways and other local roads where traveling Muslims, irrespective of

32. 32
their areas of origin were stopped and killed. Already, we have noted that to
Muslim in Southern Kaduna was the same as being a diehard supporter of CPC.
With the ease of SMS text and GSM phone calls and other forms of
communication, the already charged and mobilized Southern Kaduna youths
replicated exactly what was happening in Zonkwa. Soon, attacks on all
Muslims, whom were referred to as ‘settlers’ but having alleged to elect CPC
presidential candidate en masse, which was interpreted that if allowed till the
following week when the Gubernatorial election was to be held, would equally
replicate same, thereby denying Yakowa of PDP that golden opportunity that
united the whole of Southern Kaduna Christians politically. The dastardly act
was not limited to perceived CPC supporters, if the genocide were politically
motivated, but all Muslims were subjects of attack and were prey for slaughter.
For example, the Matsirga Muslim Community were brutally attacked by Bajju
Christians of the surrounding villages from Attas Districts and Bodari village of
Bajju Chiefdom in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area, and Aduan of
Fantsuam Chiefdom. The attackers carried guns and other deadly weapons. The
attack started on the night of 18th April, 2011 till the following day. It started
by 7:30pm when two groups of Bajju youths came trouping and mounting road
blocks leading to Matsirga from Madakiya. The first road block was mounted
near the house of Mr. Ishaya Baryakat of Bodari II. The second road block was
mounted before the bridge. These road blocks effectively blocked all entry and
exit points to the village. The entire village was surrounded in such a manner
that nobody can escape unnoticed. With effective blockade, the lethal killings
started at about 9.00pm. From there on, the killing continued unabated until the
entire village was burnt to ashes by the afternoon of 19th
April 2011.
Throughout the entire carnage, the Muslims could not be rescued by the security
agencies. To this date, the ruins of Matsirga village are there for everyone to
see.
The situation was similar at Gidan Maga. During the built-up to the April 16th
2011 Presidential Election, there had been soar relationship between the Abet
people and the largely Muslim populated Gidan Maga, who were indegeneous
for that matter. Already, it was learned from one Tani Gawan Duniya and
Hawwa Ajiya that Abet had planned that if Gidan Maga dare vote CPC and it
wins, they would eliminate the entire people within and around the area because
to them a vote for CPC was a vote against Christianity and Christians and a vote
for Islam and Muslims, which they would never accept. On the election day
(16th
April, 2011) at around 11:00am, the Bajju when they had already finished
casting their votes in their village came and surrounded Gidan Maga’s Polling
Unit to foment trouble in case the CPC won the votes in that poling unit. When
eventually the District Head stood his ground and warned his subjects never to
take the law into their hands even against the apparent provocation, the attack

33. 33
was prevented. On Monday 18 April, 2011, the Bajju mob came back and had a
meeting with the Gidan Maga Youths Chairman Mr. Markus Saidu. They
convinced him that their concern was only to deal with the Muslim populace
and their property and even solicited their support. The deal was sealed when it
was agreed that the attacks should only be religiously inclined and not tribal.
Consequently, by the night of Monday 18th
April 2011, the attack started.
Muslim houses and properties were completely razed to the ground. By the
morning of Tuesday 19th
April 2011, the entire Muslim community of Gidan
Maga was razed to the ground and in ruins. The District Head of Gidan Maga
Alhaji Ahmed Bako with 20 members of his family were slaughtered and
dumped inside a well. Several others faced similar fate.
In Kamuru-Ikulu, the deep seated anger against the Muslims also found an
opportunity. The detaste for anything to temper with PDP votes had been
upgraded into an article of faith in the entire Southern Kaduna. The Muslim
Polling Unit had been notoriuosly anti PDP in the previous elections. For the
2011 elections, the Christians had sworn never to accept this. Already the
Muslims were committed to swear allegiance in churches to deliver all votes to
the PDP to maintain. Any vote to opposition was not acceptable. Mr. Yohana
Allah Magani and Ikulu man and who was the Commissioner for Local
Government in the State and who led the campaign to prevent "adulteration" in
his constituency. Since the youths look up to the Commissioner Mr. Yohana
Allah Magani, his words were rules to be implemented.
Thus, Iliya Paul (a.k.a Nippy), a former Sole Administrator of the
Ikulu/Kamantan Development Area was scheming himself to political relevance
by ensuring he gave the PDP massive votes. So, instead of conducting
accreditation as contained in the Electoral Act and enunciated by INEC, he
ordered that multiple ballot papers be issued to PDP members. This breach of
the electoral procedure was to ensure massive votes from the area in favour of
the PDP candidates. Dispute with leaders of other parties started, especially
with Alhaji Habibu Murtala who belongs to the National Transformation Party.
Although the results were manipulated to favour PDP, the aggressive attitudes
continued.
Thus on the 18th of April 2011 when attacks in Zonkwa started, Nippy
mobilized youths to ‘teach’ Alhaji Habibu a lesson for his effontery and attempt
to challenge what had been sealed. An attack was lunched to kill Alhaji Habibu,
but he managed to escape. His vehicles were set ablaze. Soon the entire Muslim
community was attacked. With intervention of some community leaders, most
of the Muslims were able to escape the killings. The houses of Muslims were
however attacked, looted and burnt to ashes. Additionally, all shops and
properties of Muslims were looted. To this moment, many of the victims of

34. 34
violence are yet to return to Kamuru. They are still living as internally displaced
persons in villages like Dutsen Bako, Anchuna, Unguwan Pa and Kachia.
Having pursuit him for a kill as the youths were chanting war songs and
engaging in arson and threatening armless people, Habibu’s commercial
vehicles were set ablaze in a broad day light. Later at night when the targeted
people ran into the bushes for safety, their houses and means of livelihood were
equally put ablaze and destroyed, while continuing with looting and pillage.
Though no life was lost in Kamuru-Ikulu, houses and shops as well as all means
of livelihood belonging to the Muslim community were vandalized, looted and
torched as the people had to escape to safety to places like Dutsen Bako,
Anchuna, Ungwan Pa and Army Barracks in Kachia.
In the case of Samaru Kataf, the construction of a mosque and Islamic school to
serve the needs of the Muslim communities, by Hajiya Maryam Gidado Idris
was an eyesore to many Christians in Southern Kaduna. Located in a
conspicously strategic area from any direction coming to or exiting from
Samaru.
When the news of violence started filtering from Kaduna on 18th April, 2011
Christian youths started mounting road blocks and barricading all the roads to
and from Samaru Kataf. The youths were chanting war songs saying any Kataf
man killed in Kano or Zaria or Kaduna there would be reprisal on the
Hausa/Fulani Muslims around. Though no Kataf man was killed, the youths
engaged in heinuois attacks that left three people killed, while houses and
property of Muslims were destroyed.
In Jaba chiefdom, which was hitherto known to be peaceful and
accommodating, joined in the killing and destructions of lives and properties of
Muslim communities. Areas affected by the crisis included Kurmin Musa,
Gidan Tagwai, Gidan Jibri, Sabon Sarki, Fada Ward, Chori and Sabon Garin
Kwoi. This unfortunate incident led to the burning of all mosques in Kwoi and
surrounding villages. Other areas where houses and properties of Muslims were
completely destroyed were Sabon Sarki, Nok, Gidan Tagwai, Jaban Kogo,
Kwaturu, Kurmin Gwaza, Dadu and Gidan Mana.
Many lives were lost, the Sarkin Fulani in Jaba known to be of good virtues and
peace loving was killed along side his 8 sons. Alhaji Zakari who took refuge
with the District Head of Dadu was killed with his elder and younger brothers at
the palace of the District Head of Dadu. The district head is a prime witness in
this case. Many people of the area including the Fulani cattle rearers were
displaced. Alhaji Usman, a staff of the National Assembly, Abuja was blocked
on the road and killed by his blood brothers who are Christian.

35. 35
At Kagoro the story was the same, on 18th
April, 2011 some Kagoro youths,
mainly Christians preparing to attack the Hausa/Fulani Muslims. At about
10.00pm on Monday 18th
April, 2011, the militants youths launched attacked at
Kagoro town, burning the central Mosque. The arrival of a detachment of the
military halted attack on the Hausa community, the assailants then headed to
disperse Fulbe settlements and unleashed terror. By the afternoon of Tuesday
19th
April, 2011 over 64 Fulani people were killed. Hundreds of houses were
looted and burnt. Women and children scampered and were left wandering in
the surrounding bushes. The Fulbe communities were violently prevented from
returning to their settlements and/or reclaiming their lands and economic trees
to the present times. Government had deliberately refused to provide any form
of support.
In Kafanchan township, the Community received disturbing information from
travelers returning home about the road blocks mounted on all roads leading to
and out of the town. By 12.00 noon of Monday 18th
May, 2011, the Kafanchan
Branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers received information
from its members that there were commercial vehicle with Registration Number
AP 400 ABJ was intercepted on its way vandalized and dumped by the road
side along Kafanchan–Kwoi Road, near “Gidan Baturai”. The whereabout of
the driver was unknown.
The Union lodged a complain with the Divisional Police Officer, who in turn
assigned two police Officers to accompany the Union Officials to investigate
and report back to him. On arrival at the scene of the incidence, the team met
with Mr. Daniel Aduawak, the District Head of Unguwar Rimi District, Bajju
Chiefdom. He summoned the Village Head of the area who confirmed that the
driver of the car Mallam Abdullahi Kajimi was on his way to Jere in Kagarko
Local Government Area of Kaduna State when he was killed by some
unidentified youths.
The DPO assigned the Operation Yaki, which was the Kaduna State Special
Security Outfit to convey the corpse of the deceased to the Mortuary at
Kafanchan General Hospital. This was the first act of unprovoked aggression in
Kafanchan. Soon after this, more violence was unleashed to travellers. Vehicles
were smashed even in the same Monday. Five (5) vehicles were affected in this
act of provocation.
By the evening of the same Monday, all roads to and out of Kafanchan were
barricaded. As night fall, Rumada ward in Kafanchan township was attacked.
The whole town was under siege and violence was perpetrated throughout the
night.

36. 36
The Muslim community remained under continuous attacks on all directions
throughout the night of Monday, 18th
April, 2011 and the early morning of
Tuesday 19th
April, 2011, when the first contingent of security personnel arrived
to save the situation.
A damming 24 hours curfew was enforced on Kafanchan Township. At the
outskirt of the town, the Christians assailants were allowed free movement.
They moved from one house to another killing and destroying the houses of
Fulbe communities. The ruins from this violence still dot Kafanchan and its
adjoining villages.

37. 37
Chapter Five
The Errect Wolves in Action: Key Actors in the Mass Murder of Southern
Kaduna Muslims
Introduction
The Southern Kaduna region is where lamps co-exist with erect wolves. Various
interest groups in Southern Kaduna who discreetly acted collectively as a group
but outwardly appeared to have acted separately in what appeared to be a
spontaneous reaction to the violence following the riots that were taking place
in Kaduna metropolis and some northern cities, as a result of announcement of
the presidential election results. The major actors included youths and retired
military personnel that are abound in Southern Kaduna leaving a disgruntled
and frustrated, disgruntled politicians and the garb of religious leaders as well as
the government of Mr. Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa who deliberately refused to do
nothing as evil was thriving and striking on the Muslim populace of Southern
Kaduna.
Youth and Retired Armed Personnels
Southern Kaduna Christian youths took a center stage and played a vital role in
the mass of murder of Muslims in the area. They were those who were
mobilized to see that the killing of Muslims would facilitate their upward
mobility, after all the Muslims were marginalizing and dominating them. It
should be noted that Southern Kaduna has large number of retired military and
Police personnel. It is an obvious fact that these categories of people were those
used to mounting road blocks all over and to commit the heinous task of killing
defenseless individuals among the Muslim communities in Southern Kaduna.
When they started mounting road blocks in Zonkwa and the tension had risen to
a feverish level for example, the Chief of Bajju Mr. Nuhu Bature invited the
Divisional Police Officer in charge of Zonkwa, the District Head of Zonkwa
town and the Sarkin Hausawan Zonkwa including some Fulani Ardo’s for a
security meeting at 4:00pm to discuss how to avert any ugly situation. Just as
the meeting was going on in the palace of the Chief of Bajju, these youths came
carrying placards on which was written “we shall avenge for our brothers being
killed in Kaduna and Zaria”. They went on chanting slogans that for every Bajju
or kataf man killed in Kano or Zaria or Kaduna they would take reprisal on the
Hausa/Fulani population around and such others as “we shall free our land from
Islam”, “this land belongs to Jesus” and so on. Some prominent Bajju and Kataf
elders including the Aguam Bajju made spirited efforts to stop the youths but to
no avail insisting on taking revenge of those killed in Kano State, Zaria and
Kaduna North. By 6:00pm they have started breaking and setting ablaze shops
and stalls belonging to the Hausa/Fulani and other Muslim populace. Soon it
spread across the town and already youths from surrounding villages had

38. 38
appeared to be in the know of what was to happened who immediately took to
killing and setting ablaze the cows and general properties of the rural Fulani
groups and their settlements. Prominent among the Zonkwa youth leadership in
Zonkwa were:
i. Hassan James
ii. Ishaya Baryakat
iii. Musa Barry
iv. Karik Jattau
v. Malik Attas
vi. Nzabo Mugu
vii. Harvey Katuka
viii. Raymond Baye
ix. Barnabas Gado
x. Okocha Wowo
xi. Madaki Nkom
xii. Robert Jabaka
xiii. Habila Bulus (alias Boka)
xiv. Yakubu Tabitsa
In the case of Matsirga, while one group was under the leadership of Isa Bulus
(alias Isa Kunbiok) of Unguwar Kauraje, another was led by Gambo James. The
former was the one who led the above listed people to engage in the ongoing
killings and arson.
Mr. Patrick Tanko, the Chairman of Attas Youth Association who seemed to
know all that was planned was called on phone by the Chairman, Matsirga
Community Youth Development Association, Mallam Ibrahim Bala intimating
him if he knew that Matsirga was under attack by some people from his area, he
rather claimed that he was just returning from Kaduna and there were crisis all
over and only advised Ibrahim should to find a place to hide otherwise he would
not know what would happen to him. When a new consignment of arms were
supplied, it was Isa Bulus who was overheard saying “ai yanzu ne ma za a’ yi
fada” (it is now that the fight began). And true to the statement the sound of the
gun shots not only changed into the sophisticated type, the number of death
started to increase.
The following day, a mop out contingent led by one Markus Garba Goron of
Ungwan Gada, Philibus Agaba, the Mai Anguwa of Matsirga and Musa Barry
of Bodari II began a house-to-house search mopping out the aged, the sick,
women, children and other vulnerable persons among those hiding for their
dear lives in their respective homes. In this house-to-house search, any Muslim
male found in the process were instantly killed and set ablaze to disfigure the
corpse, while females and children were inhumanly collected and parked at one

39. 39
place. It was while there that Mr. Mathew Kure of Ungwan Kure and
Mr.Kachiro of Attas sighted and confronted Malama Hajara Haruna the wife of
Matsirga Chief Imam with the GSM handset of her husband and boasting that
they have just killed her husband and sarcastically asked if she would wish to
join him. The following were some of the youths identified in the killings that
left about Seventy Four (74) people dead all of whom were Muslims in
Matsirga main town and 21 people in Matsirga Hayin Gada:
a) Bage Joseph of Aduan V
b) Raymond Baye of Bodari II
c) Karik Jatau of Matsirga
d) Solomon Bala of Matsirga
e) Paul Bonet of Ung. Gado
f) Odende Rakiya of Zakkwa Village
g) Benjamin John of B/Federation
h) Mandra Killer of Ung. Gado
i) Kazah Duniya of Bodari II
j) Mathew Kure of Ung. Gada
k) Ntule Agwam of Zakkwa Village
l) Yomai Mamman Juli of Zakkwa Village
m) Monday Lanki of Aduan V
n) Hussaini Bature of Zakkwa Village
o) Raphael Carpenter of Aduan Village
p) Mr. Dominic the District Secretary of Madakiya
In Kafanchan, apart from others as we shall come to see later, the following
played separate but collective roles in the killings of Muslims both in the town
of Kafanchan whih serves as headquater and the entire Jema’a Local
Government area:
i. Mr. Emeka (Manager Baba Emeka Bread) of Masallaci Street,
Kafanchan played a major role.
ii. Mr. Garba Silas of Unguwan Rumada he was the one that led the
attackers with sophisticated weapons.
iii. Mr. Enock Ma’aji the PDP Youth leader Ward “A”.
iv. Mr. Bulus Kajan of Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya for
leading some youths to set Ma’aji Memorial Islamic School ablaze as
well as for the entire killings in the area.
v. Mr. Solomon Peter of Timber-shed for being part of the group that
mounted illegal road blocks at the Timber-Shed where innocent
motorists were attacked and killed and causing severe injuries to others
and vandalized many vehicles.
vi. Timothy P. Dodo of Timber Shed for setting houses on fire and killings
at Rumada Kafanchan.

40. 40
vii. Solomon Danjaba of Timber Shed for setting houses on fire and killings
at Rumada Kafanchan.
viii. Silas Ayuba of Timber Shed for setting houses on fire and killings at
Rumada Kafanchan.
ix. Bazamai of Timber Shed for setting houses on fire and killings at
Rumada Kafanchan.
x. Bato Dauda of Timber Shed for setting houses on fire and killings at
Rumada Kafanchan.
In fact, in Kagoma, not only that Major General Adamu Dyeris (rtd) led a group
of youths and retired military personnel to kill and commit arson. Dyeris was
the one who was reported to have had the courage to attacking a unit of soldiers
who were conveying injured Muslims to Wuse General Hospital, Abuja. They
succeeded in shooting a soldier and forcefully snatched the gun from their
Officer, who was leading the team. This lawless action was what forced the
soldiers to return to their base at Kafanchan for re–enforcement before they
returned to Kagoma where a fierce fight ensued before they retrieved the gun
and in the process the retired General was shot on the leg. Unfortunately, the
same Gen. Depries from Kagoma, the town of Governor Yakowa made a
member of Peace and Reconciliation Committee by Governor Yakowa.
Religious Leaders
The post-election violence in Southern Kaduna had taken a wider or generic
dimension than that of the usual localized particularism that used to be seen
when particular engagements within a specific area would be attacked and
ransacked. This time around, it was systematic and spontaneous, involving
hitherto areas known for their peaceful disposition. When it was realized that
what the youths were about to unleash, religious leaders were the first point of
distress calls. For example in Matsirga, among the first that a distress call was
placed on was Joseph D. Bagobiri, the Catholic Bishop of Kafanchan Dioceses
through his GSM phone number 08055627617 by Mallam Usman Idris who
was duly informed that Matsirga was under attack by some Christian youths
from neighboring villages. Truly, the Bishop though responded but did not
come to the scene, instead, he asked Mallam Usman Idris to invite the Muslim
elders of Matsirga for a meeting with the aggressive youths. Mallam Usman
told him that the elders were scattered and what was important was for him to
use his influence as the most prominent Christian clergy in the area to caution
the youths to return to their respective villages and leave Matsirga in peace. The
Bishop came and spoke with some of the youth leaders and thereafter the
attacks were temporarily abated but resumed after a while.
He was once again called to be informed about the worsening situation, and he
promised that he would come again or send someone. He truly sent one Rev. Fr.

41. 41
to address the Christian attackers. Shortly, the Rev. Fr. arrived in a car with
some other people and talked with the aggressors. What some of the people in
the nearby bush overheard Mr. Isah Bilus (alias Kumbiok) telling those people
in the car was “thank you sir”, ai Yanzu ne za’a yi fada”, meaning thank you
sir, it’s now that the real fight would start. Here we couldn’t comprehend
weither he came to pacify them towards peace or to reassure them to continue
with what was already planned.
No sooner the Rev. Fr.’s car drove off than the sound of gun shots previously
used changed for a more sophisticated one and that was when the causalities
started multiplying. Would then one not wonder what was the leader of the
assailants were thanking the Bishop’s delegation for, if not perhaps the delivery
of additional sophisticated weapons?
Already, when Bishop Joseph Bagobiri lamented at the Second Plenary
Assembly of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in 2011 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.” (Perhaps what he had in mind was simply ‘exterminate
the Muslims’ as a solution to the problem).
Furthermore, the Jamaátul Nasril Islam in the Southern Kaduna Zone with its
headquaters in Kafanchan equally alerted both the Area Commander of Police
in Kafanchan, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Kafanchan and Zonkwa
and all the chiefs in Zangon Kataf and Kaura Local Governments of the gloomy
picture of what the youths were about to unleash. Sadly, the reply it got were
shocking and flabbergasting. The entire town had been surrounded by Christian
youths chanting war songs that “we shall free our land from Islam” that “this
land belongs to Jesus”. No body to stop the mad dogs and therefore, these
youths executed the grand plan to eliminate all Hausa/Fulani Muslim from
Zonkwa town. As at 6pm Zonkwa town had fallen to the Christian youths.
The roled played would never be over emphasized so-called religious men
would not always resonate. This would be understood better from the fact that
the so-called leaders either turned to look the other away when they had the
power and authority to stop their youths from the madness, yet they did nothing.
Already, it was Edmund Burke who said: “evil thrives only when good men and
women of conscience do or say nothing”. In this case the Christian leaders aided
and abetted the mass killings by saying and doing nothing to stop it. That was
why when Bishop Bagobiri called for a press conference to unleash the
Christian propaganda and cover-up against the genocide; he turned to blame the

42. 42
Muslim victims. To him, it was the insignificant minority Hausa/Fulani
Muslims of Southern Kaduna who attacked the majority tribes and Christians on
18th
–19th
April, 2011 in Kafanchan, Matsirga, and Zonkwa and that the
Christians only responded.
Generally speaking, there was unsubstantiated allegation that many Christian
religion centers amass dangerous weapons which portrait their subversive role
in the crisis. An example was the role played by the Throne Room Ministry,
Kafanchan, where sophisticated weapons were being hidden and where every
person leaving in Kafanchan town knew that it was equally being used as
training shooting range right inside. Perhaps it was on the very knowledge of
the existence of such kind of church Ministries and the kind of deadly weapons
in their possession that made Bishop Bagobiri to say that Kafanchan was sitting
on a ‘Time Bomb’, perhaps because they planted the bomb and knew when they
would explode it.
Already, it was the Greek Playwright, Aeschylus, who said that in wartime, the
‘truth’ is always the first casualty. Therefore, those who saw the victory of their
‘son’ in the only God-given opportunity to rule Kaduna State for the first time
in history, it was a do-or-die affair; it was a war, which must be waged
conclusively and won this time around against the Muslim communities of
Southern Kaduna and it was a golden opportunity to complete what was started
in Kasunwan Magani in 1981. Even after the April 2011 post-election genocide
against the Southern Kaduna Muslims, the next theatre of that war shifted to the
Panel sittings where the truth must be jettison or even emasculated to shape the
narrative of the Panel’s decisions and for the Yakowa’s government to execute
at that level the predertimed objectives of the genocide in all ramifications.
By this, it was in order to influence policies that might otherwise prove
impossible or unsustainable for Yakowa to contemplate without the crisis in the
first place. After all, because lies are only useful when they are believed to be
true and because we live in a society that respect religious leaders, every piece
of lies said by them were to be believed to be the truth. For this, the Bishop
instead of projecting the religion he was made a leader in positive light with the
truth, rather decided to queue up with the devil to malign, discredit and
maliciously blackmail the victims of the premeditated crisis, which he did in the
most unrefined manner befitting a religious leader. His testaments before the
Panel, as desperate, notorious, hollow, baseless, shallow, puerile and simplistic
as they were garrulous falsehood with neither honor nor appeal, rather turned
the Bishop into a tribal-cum-political jobber in a manner that consoled the
sponsors and benefactors of the conflicts on one hand and on the other, made
peole to see nothing honorable and Godly about this man-of-God and to also see
nothing good in his leaderless leadership and self-righteousness.

43. 43
Culpability of Governor Ibrahim Yakowa’s Administration
Whatever might be said of the campaigns and elections in the April 2011
General Elections in Kaduna State, the facts remains too factual to be
uncontroverted that politicians and the litany of their supporters for whatever
reasons appeared desperate. That Patrick Yakowa remains in history as the first
from Southern Kaduna to be governor of Kaduna State and the desperation not
to lose that rare opportunity always attributed to providence of divine
intervention had push his kinsmen from that part of the State to view and treat
the 2011 elections with an undeserving sentimentality never seen in the history
of elections in Kaduna State.
It has been noted already that, statistically, the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) had put the officially registered eligible voters in Kaduna
State at 3,905,387. Of this, the Southern Kaduna zone had a little above
900,000. Of this, 900, 000, the total number of Muslims in Southern Kaduna
amounted to the between 40-45 percent of the eligible voters. By simple
arithmetic therefore, if voting were to be cast on confessional attachment,
Yakowa’s candidature would have amounted to nothing especially that the
major two political parties, namely Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and
the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had a Muslim and Christian contestants
respectively.
What should be inferred here and especially looking at the level of desperation
taken to a feverish level amongst the contestants, their supporters and the
political parties involved is that whatever were done to ensure victory, the ends
justified the means even if it meant the extermination, destruction,
displacement, physical and psychological trauma of the Muslims in Southern
Kaduna who were suspected to likely divide Yakowa’s votes. This coming in a
State like Kaduna where the apparent suspicion that Muslims were not in
support of a Christian candidate in Yakowa had climaxed into a level of insanity
for anyone to be surprised of their extermination, destruction, displacement,
physical and psychological trauma they were made to suffer.
What appeared sad and unfortunate, which further confirm the fear of many
Muslims in Kaduna State was in regard to Yakowa’s ability to live overboard in
dealing with the insane mentality that ‘our own is now in charge’. Nobody
would doubt Yakowa’s pedigree and competence rising from the public service
from the scratch. But there were some scripts, it was feared, Yakowa was made
to abide by without negotiation whatsoever. And this was in implementing some
biases that would place the minority Southern Kaduna tribal groups over others
and the likelihood that his kinsmen would commit all sort of atrocities only to
be covered or shielded by the government. It was in this that Yakowa proved
grossly incompetent to overcome and must therefore be held either culpable or