Traditional ruler laments bandits killed over 50, burnt 254 houses in a month in Atyap, Kaduna  

The paramount ruler of Atyap chiefdom, Dominic Yahaya, on Monday, lamented that between August and September, bandits killed over50 people, burnt about 254 houses and injured many others in serial attacks on Atyap chiefdom in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area, Kaduna State. The monarch decried that the security operatives did not come to the aide of the people during the attacks.

The paramount ruler, Dominic Yahaya narrated: “Saturday, 11 September was another black day, yet again in Atyap chiefdom when gunmen struck, killing Reverend Silas Ali within the vicinity of Zango Urban settlement in Atyap Chiefdom of Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

“The following day, suspected herdsmen invaded the community of Apyiah Ajiim – about 100 metres from the spot of Saturday’s attack, killing 12 people in another round of recurring attacks on the Atyap community. The victims included six women – two pregnant – three men, and three children.

“This occurred after the communities of Gora Gida, Wawa Rafi, Warkan, Manyie-Aywie, Ahtak- Kanai, Magata, Magauri, Matyei, Abuyab, Magamia, Makarau, Mayayit, Manchong, Ma’door and a host of other communities were serially attacked, where no fewer than 50 villagers were massacred, 254 homes and seven churches burnt in an unrestrained violence unleashed on poor, defenceless, innocent farmers of Atyap land.”

The traditional ruler stated that the sustained terror attack by bandits has reached “an extreme height of provocation” and is getting beyond control. He stated that the perennial attacks and invasion of communities by the Fulani militia compelled the indigenes of the community, predominantly farmers, to flee  their farmlands, adding that they can no longer go to farm. Several others were forced from their ancestral homes, displaced into some other communities.

“It has reached a sorry state that no farmer can venture out to the farmland, as the chances of returning home alive are very slim. This, no doubt, gives cause for alarm as the resultant effect of these actions will give rise to hunger in the land, since there would be no crops to harvest.

Dominic Yahaya declared: “At this juncture, it bears no exaggeration to say here that the Atyap land is under siege by armed bandits/herdsmen militias. These killings are condemnable, to say the least.”

He disclosed that about 15,000 residents have been displaced from their ancestral homes and are being resettled in Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) in the local government.

He emphasized the need for governments at all levels to intervene and secure the people from further attacks.

“I, therefore, call for a complete cessation of these dastardly acts in Atyap chiefdom and anywhere else in the country.

“I have kept faith with the peace efforts embarked on by all the communities in the chiefdom, aimed at enthroning sustainable peace in the land by consistently restraining the youth from taking the laws into their hands in any form of reaction or reprisal, else, the situation could have escalated beyond control,” Dominic Yahaya said.