Insecurity in Kaduna: Bad omen to national peace, demanding an emergency
Multiple attacks in Kaduna in less than 24 hours between Monday night, March 28 and Tuesday, March 29, 2022, saw the narratives of insecurity in the Country assuming a dreadful dimension. A terrorists’ bomb attack Monday night on an Abuja-Kaduna routed train had left a number of persons dead. It was gathered the Rigasa Train Station in Kaduna suffered the blast which was followed by gunshots leaving a number of persons killed, some missing, while the attackers left with many. The attack occurred in Katari in Kaduna state, 55 miles from Abuja, on Monday evening. While Authorities could not immediately confirm the number of passengers on the train, report revealed that about 1,000 people were onboard, as reliable sources have disclosed no less than 60 persons have been confirmed dead. Meanwhile, barely 24-hours after the attack on the Kaduna-bound train, a few kilometres to the Kaduna metropolis, bandits, launched another attack on Gidan train Station along the Abuja-Kaduna rail track.
This was just as Tuesday night, bandits again hit two communities in Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing 23 locals. This came about two hours after terrorists attack the Abuja-Kaduna train with bomb. The bandits left many injured, as they shot sporadically during the attacks on the communities. Report revealed the bandits came in large number, wielding dangerous weapons; as many people scampered for safety. It was gathered the bandits, who, among others, attacked Anguwar Maiwa and Anguwar Kanwa villages, were sighted regrouping on motorbikes as early as 5p.m. on Monday evening and security agents were duly informed but did nothing to repeal same until the early hours of Tuesday when they launched their attacks.
Barely a week (20th Sunday, March, 2022) after an attack that left no less than 34 persons dead, another gruesome attack by mischievous gunmen on Sunday, 28th March, 2022, left a community in Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State in trouble, with the killing of 15 locals. Report gathered that the bandits invaded Hayin Kanwa village, Yakawada ward in Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State, leaving 15 killed. Incidence of killings and kidnapping in Giwa have been observed to be on a recurring toll.
Nigerian NewsDirect had in an editorial on Tuesday 29th March, intimating a call for emergency to address the situation in Kaduna warned why the mayhem in the State should be addressed vehemently, not to degenerate into a state of anarchy that the constituted authorities may no longer be able to control. The editorial had partly read: “It is indisputable that situations in Kaduna is growing to assume a state of anarchy where the lives and properties of citizens are no longer secure. Attacks on military personnel and their base have been on record as the seeming handicap posture of the government continue to embolden mischievous elements to fortify their estate of terror. The penultimate Sunday’s attack that left no less than 34 persons dead had recorded two military officers among the toll. Recall that August 24, 2021, an attack on the permanent site of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Kaduna, had left two military officers dead, while one was kidnapped. In the incident, the bandits were reported to have shot sporadically, causing fear and confusion in the Academy which is located in close proximity with the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka.
“Kaduna no doubt has become a troubled zone, with the rising spate of incidence of killings and kidnapping. The multiplier effects of same, if not checked with all firmness, would further record heightening narratives of toughening insecurity profile in the Country.
“The impacts of unleashing terror on certain parts of the Country without heavy clampdown have seen the emboldening of mischievous elements enlarging their tentacles of gruesome operations for their self determined agenda against popular good of innocent citizens, and at large the Country. The accumulating impacts are reflecting a state of nature where life is becoming nasty, brutish and short. The essence of government is to bring to nullity any sensation of such. Kaduna, among other parts of the Country, have particularly been cut relatively with such sensations of mayhem of banditry. The compounding impacts have left destabilising strings of discomfort, as the socio-economic and political fabrics of the Country have become heated with the scourge. It is high time the Government arose to its responsibility of securing lives and properties within the State in question, among other troubled zones.”
The rising spate of attacks is an effrontery on the Nigerian Federation, which in all bad omen threatens not just the State in question, but the entire polity as a whole. The signal of discomfiture which the flagrant display of unleashing terror without clampdown nor repellant by constituted authorities reflects, is an expression of threat against the Government and a sensation emboldening, by all means, the phenomenon of terror across the Federation. The subject as one on this note, has taken a national outlook. The docility turned to the Boko-Haram terrorist activities and the gun-wielding herdsmen unleashing terror against innocent citizens, has been observed to have constituted a breeding ground for the extension of mayhem across the Country. It has now become of necessity to treat Kanuda’s case as an emergency to guide against the extension of the mayhem beyond the shores of the State.
