The chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai has laid the foundation stone for the building of a military barracks in Kafanchan in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State on Saturday, February 4, 2017.
The event was in fulfilment of the federal government’s promise to establish two military formations in Southern Kaduna to ensure security in the area.
General Buratai said the setting up of military formation in the area would consolidate the peace process that had already started in the area.
The general officer commanding, 1 Mechanised Division, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, in his remarks said since the presidential approval for the setting up of military formations, the Army has been looking for a suitable land to establish a battalion in Kafanchan.
Also speaking at the occasion, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai said the state government would process and provide the land title for Army land title, saying he was determined to give the army a structure to start their operations before the completion of the barracks.
Southern Kaduna, a predominantly Christian area of the Northern state of Kaduna in Nigeria, has come under heavy and systematic ethnic and religious cleansing.
Terrorists operating under the umbrellas of the Islamist Fulani Herdsmen Militia, the 4th most deadly terrorist group in the world has been attacking communities in Southern Kaduna, killing, and maiming Christians and burning homes and churches.
Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State has publicly admitted that his government has found the members of the Fulani militia perpetuating the killing in Southern Kaduna and he has paid them a “compensation” for them to stop the killings. The governor revealed that the militia is made up of Fulani nomads from neighboring Cameroon, Mali, Niger and other countries.
The victims of these murders are Christians and their attackers are on an ethnic and religious cleaning mission, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN.
While Christians leaders have called on communities under attack to defend themselves against their attackers, Muslim clerics in Kaduna have called for the arrest of Christian religious and political leaders from Kaduna and other parts of the country who have called on Christians to defend themselves against their attackers.
These exchanges have led to an intense political environment.
Additional reports by PR Nigeria
