Former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani has rebuked Governors of Northernern Nigeria over the incessant killings in the region, saying while they are busy playing ostrich and afraid to confront the Federal Government, bandits have taken over the region.
Shehu Sani while reacting to Sunday’s attack by bandits in Kerewa, Zareyawa and Marina villages under Kerewa ward in Igabi local government area of Kaduna State which claimed 51 lives, said killings and kidnappings have become a daily occurrences in Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Niger States.
“Northern Governors are still playing the ostrich, afraid of confronting the Federal Government and taking independent action to protect their people while the killings and the kidnappings goes on,” he said.
In a statement he issued in Kaduna, the former Senator described as unfortunate that northern Nigeria has become a region of endless funerals and perpetual bereavement adding that “bandits in the North have become a state; they impose fines and taxes, send notices, control spaces, determine life and death and operate without much challenge.”
The senator challenged the people of the region to “wake up, buckle up or perish” adding that, “Muslims are not much being seen as victims of the killings in the north because many Islamic leaders prefer to massage the image of the government in the face of the killings of their followers while Christian clerics are leading protests in the streets.”
According to Sani, the lives of ordinary people in the region has become cheap, dispensable, disposable and ordinary and stressed that the pervasive insecurity in the north is reinforced and sustained by the silence and sycophancy of its elites as much as the inaction of the government.
Suspected bandits yesterday attacked four villages in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State killing 51 people and leaving many injured.
The affected villages include Kerawa, Zareyawa and Marina all in Kerawa Ward of the local government.
The attackers were said to have stormed the villages around 6am shortly after the Subh (early morning prayer).
Daily Trust learnt that many residents fled as the assailants also set many houses ablaze and carted away foodstuff.
The councillor of Kerawa Ward, Malam Dayyabu Kerawa, confirmed the incident to our correspondents.
He said all the 51 victims were buried around 4pm.