Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has confirmed the death of five persons as a result of the outbreak of violence in the state capital on Sunday.
The governor in a statewide broadcast attributed Sunday’s mayhem to rumour mongering which he said was exploited by hoodlums to engage in ‘criminal activities’ thus causing the destruction of lives and property.
While condemning the violence and level of destruction caused by the Kasuwan Magani crisis and the Sunday stampede, the governor said those found to be behind the violence would be persecuted in order to serve as deterrent to others.
He said in that regard, the state government will fast track the prosecution of the arrested 88 number of persons arrested in connection with the crises, 63 from a previous crisis at Kasuwan Magani in February and 25 as a result of Thursday’s incident.
He said adequate arrangement were made to provide security to those coming into Kaduna from the Kaduna International Airport, the Rigasa Railway Station as well as the various points of entry by road into Kaduna.
The governor explained why the 24 hour curfew was imposed saying it was to forestall further breakdown of law and order and observed that so far the “overnight security operations achieved the objectives of restoring calm.”
El-Rufai urges the citizens to “reject those who seek to incite and divide us,” and called on all residents of Kaduna state to do their best to uphold peace.
He said the State Security Council would meet tomorrow (Tuesday) from 9:00am and based on its observations of the aftermath of the imposition of the curfew, it will re-examine the need to review the 24 hour curfew.
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