Indigenes of Kajuru Local Government Area, LGA, in Southern Kaduna state have said no Fulanis were killed in their domain.
The Indigenes stated this while reacting to claims by Kaduna State Government that 66 persons were killed in their community.
Gov. Nasir El- Rufai, in a statement signed by his Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity, Samuel Aruwan, had said Security agencies on Friday, February 15, reported the recovery of 66 bodies of those who were killed in attacks by criminal elements in various hamlets in the Maro Gida and Iri axis of Kajuru LGA.
El-Rufai in the statement had also claimed that among those killed were 22 children and 12 women in settlements of Ruga Bahago, Ruga Daku, Ruga Ori, Ruga Haruna, Ruga Yukka Abubakar, Ruga Duni Kadiri, Ruga Shewuka and Ruga Shuaibu Yau.
But the indigenes in a statement made available to the Next Edition said they were not aware of any such incidence.
They rather recalled that 11 natives of Kajuru were said to have been killed on Monday February 11, 2019, but El-Rufa’i and his government refused to comment on the incident.
“Today Friday, it is El-Rufa’i himself announcing death of 66 Fulanis. Unfortunately, calls to citizens of Kajuru town indicate they are not aware of killings today as El-Rufa’i seemed to have claimed.
“We recall that El-Rufa’i had once deposited that Fulanis never forgive denoting they’ll go for reprisal no matter how long it takes.
“This statement of El-Rufa’i, if it is to be x-rayed, will mean Fulanis will cause trouble in Kajuru to create a crisis hence enable the cancellation of elections in such area of Kajuru and/or even Chikun, and so calling for a postponement.
“The Government must be on its toes to avoid this strategy being used to grant Fulanis a reason to do harm to Kajuru citizens and Kaduna state as a whole.”
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They stated that “It was an act of injustice to find that Governor El-Rufa’i is at the forefront of creating such narratives of 66 Fulanis being killed. How? When? By Whom? Why?”
Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has corroborated the statement of the Kajuru indigenes.
A statement signed by Deputy Director Media and Publicity, PDP Campaign Organization, Yakubu lere, described the statement from the governor as “fake news” insisting it has no basis except in the imagination of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
He said; “This is to inform the good people of Kaduna state especially our PDP supporters that, the fake news going round of a crises going on at Kajuru local govt where many people were killed has no basis but the creation of APC to cause panic and confusion.
“We have contacted our source from Kajuru as well as police headquarters who confirmed to us that the story is not true.”
The party called on the Police authorities and DSS to track down those disseminating the rumours.
