Southern Kaduna insecurity is more complicated — Presidency

The Presidency on Tuesday said revenge killings were worsening the security problems in Southern Kaduna State.

A presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, in a statement, said the problem of insecurity in Southern Kaduna State was more complicated than many people were willing to admit.

• Fresh attack claims 11 in Kaduna community
• 17 feared dead as gunmen attack communities, Police Station in Kaduna

Shehu said from available records, Southern Kaduna enjoyed comprehensive security deployments, including the Army, Special Forces of both the Army and the Air Force, surveillance aircraft by the Air Force and mobile police units that were on the ground on a 24-hour basis to forestall criminality and keep the peace.

He said unlike other parts of the country, the problem of Southern Kaduna was more complicated than many critics were ready to acknowledge and understand.

He added that from available security records, the problem in Southern Kaduna was an evil combination of politically-motivated banditry, revenge killings and mutual violence by criminal gangs acting on ethnic and religious grounds.

The Presidency, which advised the people against taking the law into their own hands because it made the job of security personnel more difficult, urged them to instead report any security breach or threat to peace to the law enforcement agencies.

The presidential aide said what was required was for the local authorities to “radically improve their intelligence capabilities” so that security agencies would be alerted in a timely manner to enable them forestall any planned attacks.

“It is a situation in which one criminal group will kill a member of another criminal group out of ethnic and religious motivations which in turn leads to the eruption of revenge and counter-revenge, thereby making the job of the security personnel deployed to protect lives more difficult.

“We note that revenge and counter-revenge only creates a circle of violence, thereby making everyone else unsafe, especially innocent people,” the statement added.

The Presidency, which condemned the recent attacks by bandits in Igali, Birnin Gwari and Giwa local government areas of the State, urged security agencies to intensify their response.