By Sani Gazas Chinade, Damaturu
The Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN) has declared that its members are being systematically killed from all sides, caught between criminal bandits and the government-backed security volunteers meant to protect them.
In a strongly worded statement on Sunday by the National President of the Association, Hon. Khalid Muhammad Bello in Damaturu, the association detailed a crisis of double killings that it says is derailing peace efforts across the volatile North West and North Central regions.
The KACRAN National President, outlined a dire situation in which pastoralists have become victims of circumstances.
The association alleges that bandits routinely extort herders in remote areas, forcing them to pay a form of tax or “Zakat,” and in some cases even demanding that they surrender a son to join the criminal gangs as a condition for operating their businesses.
The KACRAN levelled a grave accusation against security volunteers and vigilantes, claiming they avoid direct combat with bandits in deep forests and instead, target innocent pastoralists.
“Obviously we are the people who are being forced to give the actual bandits cover, as the bandits will not allow us to freely go into the deep forest to do our business otherwise,” the statement read, highlighting the impossible position of its members, “we condemned bandits for shattering recent peace agreements, citing specific broken deals in Zamfara and Katsina States respectively.
In an instance in Zamfara, bandits were reported to have extorted money from farmers for permission to harvest their produce, only to later attack them — resulting in killings and kidnapping for ransom.
KACRAN was equally critical of vigilante groups, pointing to a brutal incident in Kebbi State where volunteers allegedly killed approximately 70 innocent pastoralists and burned their homes. The group made a passionate appeal to the Kebbi State Governor to immediately halt the attacks.
The association also called on the Katsina State Government’s support for local peace accords and work to disarm both bandits and vigilantes respectively.
Therefore the association assured the federal and state governments of its readiness to assist “through dialogue, kinetic and non-kinetic approaches,” to end the insurgency plaguing the region at large.”
