Southern Kaduna: Residents narrate ordeals during attacks

Victims of the 18 December 2022 attack in Malagum 1 and Sokong communities on Saturday in the Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State have given horrific details of how terrorists murdered 40 villagers in the communities.

Sources who spoke with DAILY POST explained that despite the attacks, the communities were still being threatened with calls from the gunmen that they would strike again.

Speaking when a delegation of non-governmental organisations visited the affected communities led by Rev Gideon Para-Mallam, one of the victims of the last attack explained that at about 9:50 am on Saturday, he received a phone call from those who perpetrated the violence telling him that they were coming back to attack them again.

He explained, “The attackers are using the cell-phones of the victims they killed to call their loved ones and threaten them that they are coming to attack them again.”

Nathan Yashim, one of the victims who narrated his ordeal, disclosed that his father, mother and stepbrother were butchered and set ablaze like animals during the attack.

He lamented that he could not hold back his tears, saying that his dreams in life had been completely shattered.

He said, “Those who perpetrated the act on our communities are Fulanis. For two hours, the attackers were operating without a single security man coming to rescue us.

“I am one of the biggest farmers in this community, but I lost everything and I don’t know how to start life again.”

Earlier, during a town-hall meeting at Kagoro, the President of the Kagoro Development Association, Prof. Jalz Gambo, debunked the impression that what took place at Malagum 1 and Sokong communities was a communal clash.

He said the two communities were attacked while going about their normal businesses.

Another victim, Joseph Utuk, who narrowly escaped the attack in the Sokong community, accused security operatives of being complicit.

He further explained that after the attack in their community alone, nine people were killed on December 18, adding that the attackers came back again the following evening, but the military repelled them.

He stated that following the attacks by the gunmen, they are living in fear, not knowing what could befall them at any moment in their lives.

He appealed to the government to deploy and establish a security base in Kagoro to help check any future attacks and to inform the locals of the incessant attacks by the gunmen.