Insecurity: We’ll defend our land with every legal means – Zangon Kataf’s Atyap people
EMERGENCY DIGEST- The natives of the Atyap Chiefdom in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna have said they will do all it takes to defend themselves following the incessant attacks and killings of their people by suspected Fulani militias.
Recall that the Atyap chiefdom in Zangon Kataf had of recent come under heavy attacks resulting to killing, maiming, destroying of houses and places of worship as well as destruction of crops in farmlands.
The Paramount Ruler of the Atyap, the Agwatyap, Sir Dominic Yahaya, had also condemned the Fulani herdsmen invasion of his domain, which led to the killing of no fewer than 50 villagers and burning 254 houses and seven churches in the last one month.
The President, Atyap Community Development Association (ACDA), Dr Samuel Achie, in a statement cried out that their chiefdom was under siege by Fulani attackers and vowed that they would embrace any lawful means to protect themselves from going into extinction.
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He, however, called on the Federal Government and the international community to come to the aide of the Atyap people before it is too late, saying that many people have been rendered homeless with nothing to feed on following the massive destruction of the suspected Fulani militias.
Achie explained that the Atyap people are peaceful and agrarian in nature, lamenting that they have been sacked from their ancestral lands and living in Internally Displaced Persons’ camps with no assistance from the state government and can not go back to their villages to continue with farming.
The ACDA President said that it is unacceptable that in less than one month, over 50 defenceless villagers lost their lives, even in the face of so-called peace meetings and a democratic system in the country.
He stated, “Surprisingly, in what seems to be a planned reinforcement, the AK-47 wielding Fulani militias, in pursuit of their genocide, ransacked the following villages – Gora Gida; three people killed and one car burned, Ung Jaba, one woman killed in her farm, Abuyab, four persons killed, and Manchong, where one person was killed and many others.”
According to him, Madoo, 17 people killed and houses burned down; Kurmin Masara, two people killed in their farms, Apiyejim/Kibori where 13 people, including the Senior Reverend of ECWA Church, killed in Zango river basin on his way from Kafanchan.
He added that the attacks on the villages by the suspected Fulani militias continued unabetted, saying that besides those killed, many injured with houses and crops in farmlands destroyed beyond imagination.
