24 hours Curfew now in place
Admin l Monday, October 22, 2018
KADUNA, Nigeria – At least 60 people have been confirmed dead in the latest Kaduna crisis which began on Thursday in Kasuwa Magani. Commissioner of Police in Kaduna, Ahmed Abdulraman said this morning that 55 people were killed on Friday, while the remaining 5 people lost their lives on Sunday.
He said 32 people have been arrested so far, 22 on Friday and 10 on Sunday, forcing the state governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai to impose 24 hours curfew to avoid further loss of lives.
The latest crisis began on Thursday between the Muslims and the Christians. At a meeting with the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) in the local government area, El-rufai said he called for the meeting to enable the feuding parties embark on frank talks.
“We are here to see and to listen to ourselves. We must live in peace and never use violence to solve a problem. We are not happy with this and government will pursue and punish those responsible for this devilish act. We must value the sanctity of life. I want to beg you to cooperate with the security agencies because prosecution of conflict entrepreneurs is inevitable. I will come back in one week time to see how things are”, he said before the violence again erupted on Sunday.
The commissioner described the attack as reaction to what happened and Friday and that innocent people were harassed, roads were blocked, vehicles and houses were burnt including one mosque. He said the situation is now calm, adding that immediately he got report policemen were deployed to affected areas and that the military also responded to distress calls and that the situation has been brought under control. He said he calling a security meeting and that soon he will initiate a stakeholder meeting to dialogue on the way forward.
Also speaking on the crisis, Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Police, ASP Moshood Jimoh, who spoke on Channels TV said the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris had deployed four mobile police units, about 240 policemen to the area, adding that Kaduna is now safe.
