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Eight people have been killed and eight others severely injured following two separate attacks by suspected gunmen at Unguwan Rimi village, Chawaii Chiefdom in Kamaru ward of Kauru Local Government Area, and Ungwan Fulani village in Hunkuyi, Kudan Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria’s Northwest region.
The Kauru attack comes almost two years after peace returned in southern Kaduna, following the non-kinetic peace model initiated by the administration of Governor Uba Sani.
Although the police in Kaduna State are yet to confirm the incident, the Chairman of the Chawaii Development Association, Abel Adamu, said in a statement that the gunmen invaded Ungwan Rimi community in the early hours of Monday and started shooting at them.
Adamu claimed that the attackers came from the Maingo community in neighbouring Basa Local Government Area of Plateau State, following a crisis in that community that later spilled over to Kauru in Kaduna State, which led to the killings.
He commended Governor Uba Sani’s unwavering commitment to restoring peace and security in Southern Kaduna for two years.
However, the Chawaii Development Association Chairman called on security agencies to step up their investigation to bring the perpetrators of the attack to book, and also ensure peaceful coexistence among local communities, especially the rural areas, which are more vulnerable to attacks
Similarly, gunmen suspected to be bandits also attacked Ungwan Fulani village in Hunkuyi Local Government Area, shooting a 40-year-old man to death and abducting a 53-year-old businessman, Shehu Hussein.
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Commiserating with the families of the victims, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Information, Ahmed Maiyaki, described the latest attack as isolated cases and an overlap of attacks from neighbouring states that share borders with Kaduna.
Maiyaki explained that the entire Kaduna State has been largely peaceful, with isolated cases of attacks in the past two years of Governor Sani’s administration due to the implementation of the state’s peace model.
“On behalf of His Excellency, Governor Uba Sani, we want to commiserate with the families of the deceased and those who were abducted. This is very sad at this very critical time that the Governor is pursuing the Kaduna Peace Model. But I want to say that as a government, the attacks in Kauru and Hunkuyi are isolated cases,” the commissioner said.
“Apart from being isolated cases, these communities are border communities with other states. Kauru is bordered by Plateau State, and Hunkuyi in Kudan is bordered by Katsina State in the northern part of Kaduna State.”
“The Kaduna Peace Model is empirical, that has worked, that has ended attacks in many of these communities. For instance, the quick win that we have in Birnin Gwari after a successful implementation of the Kaduna Peace Model has led to the reopening of markets in Birnin Gwari communities, and also agricultural activities in Kauru and Hunkuyi.
“But as long as the neighbouring states are not keying into the model, adopting the Kaduna Peace Model, we will still be witnessing incidents like this. It must be an integrated approach.
“While Kaduna is working very hard to implement this in the state, you have an overlap of these insecurities from neighbouring states coming into our communities. The Governor has been working very closely with the office of NSA for a possible integration of the Kaduna Peace Model, not just to the neighbouring states, but the entire security high-risk locations.
“So that whatever you do in Kaduna will be effective in other states, so that we don’t have an overlap from states that border Kaduna.”
Meanwhile, the Commissioner said that the governor has ordered security agencies to fish out the perpetrators of the attack with a view to bringing them to justice.
