Kaduna imposes 24-hour curfew on LG over youths’ killing

    
The Kaduna State Government on Wednesday imposed a 24-hour curfew on Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State,  following a protest by angry youths after two young men were shot to death in the area.

It was gathered that the youths were insisting on meting out  jungle justice to  no fewer than 32 Fulani men arrested by the Army with weapons in Kafanchan, headquarters of the Jema’a LG.


The development led to tension in Southern part of the state, leading to the cancellation of a planned visit of a former Head of State and leader of the All Progressives Congress, Maj.-Gen. Mohammadu Buhari (retd.).

Buhari was to visit Bondong Distirck near Manchok in Kaura LGA, where suspected  Fulani herdsmen killed over  100  villagers in March.

The APC leader’s visit was to condole with the survivors and  offer them some relief materials, according to a chief of the party  in Kaduna State, Mr. Francis Kozah.

Meanwhile, a youth leader from Kafanchan , Mr Yashim Bonnat, 30,  told our  correspondent  on the telephone  that parts of the town were tick with fumes of tears gas  and bullets shots by security operatives over the chanting of the protesting youths.

He said,  “I am around the Railway Junction of Kafanchan town. Youths have surrounded an office around here where soldiers are keeping 32 Fulani men that they caught this morning around 10am while trying to fuel their truck.

“I saw with my eyes the weapons recovered from them. They included 12 AK 47 riffles, about 13 dane guns, a bag of ammunition, all kinds of machetes, knives, and what looks like improvised explosives device among others.

“They are  displaying  the arms and made the men to seat in front of them. No one needs tell you that they are Fulani men.  This is making the youths here very angry. They are saying that the men were coming to attack Kafanchan and that it was God that exposed them. So they want the soldiers to release them to be lynched by them.

Spokesman for the Kaduna State Police Command, Aminu Lawan, said the incident had to do with the Nigerian Amy and “not the police.”

He said, “It is the Army that arrested the people. It is the Army that is said to have shot people. They have not briefed us. I cannot speak for them.”


However, spokesman for the 1 Mechanized Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Colonel Usman  Abdul, said he was aware of the arrests and the violence in Kafanchan but had not been sufficiently briefed on the matter yet as of the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile,  the Chairman of Jema’a LG, Mr. Daniel Amos, noted that with the permission of the state government, a 24-hour curfew was imposed  on Kafanchan