The death toll from an attack last week by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria has doubled to more than 130, the Kaduna state governor has said.

The attack appeared to have been a deliberate plan to "wipe out certain communities", Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai said on Tuesday, without elaborating.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from Abuja, said the increase in death toll was "expected from the beginning" as 130 people had been marked as missing in the aftermath of the attack.

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"The security forces have been combing the area, looking for survivors as well as bodies. They said they found most of the bodies burnt beyond recognition in a ravine," he said.

"We met survivors who told us that hundreds of men armed with guns and other crude weapons had descended on the villages, killing and beheading anyone they saw. Some of them had their entire families killed in the attacks."

"This part of Nigeria is prone to such attacks," he said. "It is where mainly Muslim north meets the mainly Christian south."

Muslim-Christian clashes



Those killed in last Friday's attack were mainly from the Fulani ethnic group, who are predominantly Muslim and who have been involved in clashes in recent years with people from the Adara ethnic group, who are predominantly Christian.

Local residents, speaking to the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity, said last week that the attack was a reprisal for violence last October.

El-Rufai told reporters that police were still investigating the gunmen's motive for the attack in Kajuru local government area in the south of the state, and there had been arrests.

He did not say how many people had been detained.

The attack took place the day before Nigeria was supposed to hold a presidential and legislative election, but electoral authorities delayed the vote by one week citing logistical challenges.

There was no indication that the attack was related to the election.

About 55 people were killed in October during what residents said were clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Kasuwan Magani area of Kajuru - the same local government area in which last week's attack took place.

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Security has become a key campaign issue before the presidential election in which President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in 2015, and Atiku Abubakar, a businessman who served as vice president from 1999 to 2007, are the leading contenders.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with about 190 million inhabitants, is split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims and comprises about 250 different ethnic groups that mostly coexist peacefully.

However, hundreds of people were killed last year in outbreaks of violence over land use and resources in the central states of Nigeria slightly to the south of Kaduna, with some clashes between religious and ethnic groups.</s>Local residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, said last week that the attack was a reprisal for violence last October.

ABUJA - The death toll from an attack last week by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria has doubled to more than 130, the Kaduna state governor said on Tuesday, adding it appeared to have been a deliberate plan to “wipe out certain communities”.

Governor Nasir el-Rufai did not specify what he meant by this. Those killed in last Friday’s attack were mainly from the Fulani ethnic group, who are usually Muslim and who have been involved in clashes in recent years with people from the Adara ethnic group, who are predominantly Christian.

Local residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, said last week that the attack was a reprisal for violence last October.

El-Rufai told reporters that police were still investigating the gunmen’s motive for the attack in Kajuru local government area in the south of the state, and there had been arrests. He did not say how many people had been detained.

“The more the police dig into this matter, the more it is clear that there was a deliberate plan to wipe out certain communities,” he said, adding that the latest report on the incident showed more than 130 people had been killed.

The attack took place the day before Nigeria was supposed to hold a presidential election, but electoral authorities delayed the vote by one week citing logistical challenges. There was no indication that the attack was related to the election.

Some 55 people were killed in October during what residents said were clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Kasuwan Magani area of Kajuru - the same local government area in which last week’s attack took place.

Security has become a key campaign issue ahead of the presidential election in which President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in 2015, and Atiku Abubakar, a businessman who served as vice president from 1999 to 2007, are the leading contenders.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with around 190 million inhabitants, is split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims and comprises around 250 different ethnic groups that mostly co-exist peacefully.

However, hundreds of people were killed last year in outbreaks of violence over land use and resources in the central states of Nigeria slightly to the south of Kaduna, with some clashes between religious and ethnic groups.</s>The death toll from an attack last week by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria’s Kaduna State has doubled to more than 130 people, the state governor said on Tuesday, adding that the motive appeared to be ethnic.

Nasir el-Rufai told reporters that police were still investigating the gunmen’s motive. There was no indication that the attack was related to the election.

The attack last Friday came the day before a presidential election was supposed to be held, but electoral authorities delayed the vote by one week due to logistical challenges.

Kaduna is currently a region held by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. It is not alien to such attacks in the past.

In the past few months, a total state of emergency was imposed following deadly attacks that killed a top traditional leader.</s>ABUJA (Reuters) - The death toll from an attack last week by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria’s Kaduna State has doubled to more than 130 people, the state governor said on Tuesday, adding that the motive appeared to be ethnic.

Nasir el-Rufai told reporters that police were still investigating the gunmen’s motive. The attack last Friday came the day before a presidential election was supposed to be held, but electoral authorities delayed the vote by one week due to logistical challenges.

There was no indication that the attack was related to the election.</s>Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, yesterday in Abuja said contrary to the earlier figure of 66 Fulani that he said were killed in Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA) of the state on Friday, the figure was actually 130.

El-Rufai has also disclosed that in view of insecurity in the state, he had requested for the deployment of military personnel to flash points during the February 23 and March 9 elections, which was granted by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He also stated that the governors of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa States who were present at the security meeting with the President yesterday also presented security situation reports in their various states.

El-Rufai who said he got to know about the latest figure through an ongoing investigation by the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), had last Friday, disclosed that unknown gunmen killed 66 persons in the area.

However, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF), has advised relevant authorities in Nigeria, particularly the federal government, to call the Kaduna governor to order to prevent him from stoking ethnic crisis in his state.

The governor disclosed the latest figure yesterday while briefing State House correspondents after an emergency security meeting called by President Buhari.

According to him, “now, what we are hearing, the last report we got is that over 130 people were killed not even 66.”

Aside service chiefs and the acting Inspector-General of Police, four Northern governors, including El-Rufai, attended the meeting. The other three governors were Bindow Jurila (Adamawa), Ibrahim Geidam (Yobe) and Kashim Shettima (Borno).

El-Rufai said to ascertain the authenticity of the figure, Fulani leaders would provide the full list of those killed in the attack to the state government.

According to him, Kaduna State Government would soon release the pictures of the slain victims as well as footages of the burial conducted by members of the Nigeria Army two days after the massacre when their bodies were decomposing.

He said, “Now, what we are hearing, the last report we got is that, over 130 people were killed not even 66. And the Fulani leaders are providing the names of all these people. We have the list and we will release it to the press.”

Meanwhile, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) has advised relevant authorities in Nigeria, particularly the federal government, to call el-Rufai to order to prevent him from stoking ethnic crisis in his state. In a statement issued yesterday by the National Publicity

Secretary, pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) alleged that the governor’s actions are capable of igniting crisis.

watched with keen interest recent attempt by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mr. Nasir el-Rufai to foment ethnic crisis in his state on the eve of the botched February 16 presidential election.

“The governor had claimed the reprisal killing of 66 Fulani people in Kajuru LGA of the state with fanfare but has yet to show evidence of deaths as we write this,” the statement said

The leaders lamented that “the glee with which the governor went on air on Friday, February 15, 2019 alleging the killings was shocking for the chief executive of a state.”

They noted that “the governor went ahead to list the number of villages that were attacked but deliberately excluded Ungwan Barde where 11 people with identified corpses were killed for whatever reasons best known to him.

“The governor claimed that the incident happened on the eve of the election. But the truth by the community concerned is that the incident took place between Sunday, February 10, and Tuesday, February 12, 2019 in Ungwar Barde in Kufana district, where 11 innocent Adara people were killed by suspected herdsmen without any provocation.”</s>The death toll from an attack last week by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria has doubled to more than 130, the Kaduna state governor says, adding it appeared a deliberate plan to "wipe out certain communities."

Those killed in last week's attack were mainly from the Fulani ethnic group, who are usually Muslim and have been involved in clashes in recent years with people from the Adara ethnic group, predominantly Christian.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai told reporters on Tuesday police were still investigating the motive for the attack in the Kajuru local government area in the south of the state, and there had been arrests made.

"The more the police dig into this matter, the more it is clear that there was a deliberate plan to wipe out certain communities," El-Rufai said.

Locals said the attack took place on Monday last week, although initial reports suggested it took place later in the week. It was first announced late on Friday - the day before Nigeria was supposed to hold a presidential election, but electoral authorities delayed the vote by a week.

"They invaded our settlement, killed men, women and children and set our houses ablaze," said Usman Kafara, who survived last week's attack.

"The Adaras were on reprisal mission over the killings of 11 of their people."

Some 55 people were killed in October during what residents said were clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Kasuwan Magani area of Kajuru - the same local government area in which last week's attack took place.

Security has become a key campaign issue ahead of the presidential election in which President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, a businessman and former vice president, are the leading contenders.</s>ABUJA: The death toll from an attack last week by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria has doubled to more than 130, the Kaduna state governor said on Tuesday, adding it appeared to have been a deliberate plan to “wipe out certain communities.” Governor Nasir el-Rufai did not elaborate on what he meant. Those killed in last week’s attack were mainly from the Fulani ethnic group, who have been involved in clashes in recent years with people from the Adara ethnic group.

 El-Rufai told reporters that police were still investigating the motive for the attack in the Kajuru local government area in the south of the state, and there had been arrests. He did not say how many people had been detained

 “The more the police dig into this matter, the more it is clear that there was a deliberate plan to wipe out certain communities,” he said, adding that the latest report on the incident showed more than 130 people had been killed.

 Locals said the attack took place on Monday last week, although initial reports suggested it took place later in the week. It was first announced late on Friday — the day before Nigeria was supposed to hold a presidential election, but electoral authorities delayed the vote by a week, citing logistical challenges.

 Local residents said last week that the attack was a reprisal for violence in October. — Reuters</s>Abuja - An attack by gunmen on villages in northwest Nigeria last week claimed "over 130" lives, more than double the toll initially reported, the governor of Kaduna state said on Tuesday. "The last report we got is that over 130 people were killed, not even 66," governor Nasir El-Rufai said after a meeting of military and security chiefs in Abuja.

El-Rufai, who was invited to speak at the briefing with President Muhammadu Buhari, was criticised for announcing the deaths last Friday, on the eve of elections which were subsequently delayed.

The bodies were found in eight villages in the Kajuru area of the state, which has long been a centre of deadly unrest, fuelled by ethnic and religious tensions.

A representative of the ethnic Christian Adara community, which is dominant in the area, told AFP there had been recurring attacks by Fulani Muslims in the last three years.

At the weekend, the governor said the victims were Fulanis. But a prominent Christian body has said the attack did not happen.

It is unusual for state governors to make such announcements in Nigeria and El-Rufai hit out at claims that the attack was fabricated as "irresponsible".

"I know there is a prevailing narrative in the Nigerian media that only certain lives are more important than others," he told reporters.

"We see that clearly in the slant of reporting and the denial," he said.

"Fulani leaders are providing the names of all these people, we have the list and we will release it to the press."

Nigerian media reported that Kaduna state police chief, Ahmad Abdulrahman, also attended the meeting and said 11 people had been arrested.

El-Rufai, from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is known as a close ally of Buhari. He is seeking re-election as governor in upcoming polls on March 9.

Buhari, who also wants a second term of office in presidential polls postponed to this Saturday, is facing a number of security challenges across the country.

They include Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency in the northeast and an upsurge in violence between farmers and herders in central states.

Kaduna is one of several northwest states to have been hit by kidnappings for ransom and cattle rustling by criminal gangs.</s>ABUJA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The death toll from an attack last week by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria has doubled to more than 130, the Kaduna state governor said on Tuesday, adding it appeared to have been a deliberate plan to "wipe out certain communities."

Governor Nasir el-Rufai did not elaborate on what he meant. Those killed in last week's attack were mainly from the Fulani ethnic group, who are usually Muslim and have been involved in clashes in recent years with people from the Adara ethnic group, who are predominantly Christian.

El-Rufai told reporters that police were still investigating the motive for the attack in the Kajuru local government area in the south of the state, and there had been arrests. He did not say how many people had been detained

"The more the police dig into this matter, the more it is clear that there was a deliberate plan to wipe out certain communities," he said, adding that the latest report on the incident showed more than 130 people had been killed.

Locals said the attack took place on Monday last week, although initial reports suggested it took place later in the week. It was first announced late on Friday - the day before Nigeria was supposed to hold a presidential election, but electoral authorities delayed the vote by a week, citing logistical challenges.

Local residents said last week that the attack was a reprisal for violence in October.

"They invaded our settlement, killed men, women and children and set our houses ablaze," said Usman Kafara, who survived last week's attack. "The Adaras were on reprisal mission over the killings of 11 of their people."

Some 55 people were killed in October during what residents said were clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Kasuwan Magani area of Kajuru - the same local government area in which last week's attack took place.

Security has become a key campaign issue ahead of the presidential election in which President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar, a businessman and former vice president, are the leading contenders.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with around 190 million inhabitants, is split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims, and comprises around 250 different ethnic groups that mostly co-exist peacefully.

However, hundreds of people were killed last year in outbreaks of violence over land use and resources in central states slightly to the south of Kaduna. (Reporting by Felix Onuah; Additional reporting by Garba Muhammad in Kaduna and Ardo Hazzad in Bauchi Writing by Aaron Ross and James Macharia Editing by Alexis Akwagyiram, Frances Kerry and Leslie Adler)</s>The Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, has condemned what it described as attempts by some “busy bodies” to deny the killings of 66 people in Fulani settlements in Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.

This is coming as a prominent Non-governmental organisation (NGO), Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has described as despicable, reprehensible and outrageous the false and unsubstantiated claim made by the Kaduna governor alleging that 66 Fulanis were slaughtered by Christians in Kajuru LGA of the state.

The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKPU), has also alleged that el-Rufai’s comments on the alleged killings in communities in Kajuru LGA of the state, were deliberately orchestrated to inflame ethnic and religious violence.

Apparently reacting to the controversies that have continued to trail the announcement of the killings on Friday, the eve of the suspended Presidential elections, the state government in a statement yesterday “condemned in the strongest terms attempts to politicise the killings.”

Several groups, including former Chairman of National Chairman of the Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, had maintained that the death figures were cooked up and had challenged the governor to prove it.

But the spokesman to governor, Samuel Aruwan, who signed the statement, said the “Kaduna State Government notes the concerted and apparently coordinated efforts by bigoted busy bodies to deny the Kajuru killings, or to minimise the casualty figures, and the specious arguments being deployed in this despicable quest”

According to the statement: “Only irresponsible and insensitive people can recklessly dismiss the deaths of members of a community with whom they have no contact.

“Private individuals and unelected actors cannot be allowed to reduce weighty matters of state security to the province of their limited networks, inexperienced lenses and narrow agendas.”

The statement added that “the government of a state cannot be deterred by parochial, ethno-religious, partisan or electoral calculations from doing its duty to provide security, confirm incidents of security breaches, take steps to reassure affected communities and ensure that perpetrators are arrested and brought to justice”.

Aruwan also said the governor visited scenes of the killings on Saturday.

The statement said the General Officer, Commanding 1 Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, Maj. Gen. Farouk Yahaya, briefed the el-Rufai on the recovery of 66 corpses by soldiers in the Maro and Iri axis of Kajuru LGA.

But despite the governor’s insistence that 66 Fulanis were killed, HURIWA has condemned as despicable, reprehensible and outrageous the false and unsubstantiated claim made by the Kaduna governor alleging that 66 Fulanis were slaughtered by Christians in Kajuru LGA.

HURIWA in a statement by the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, and National Media Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, said it was unimaginable that the Kaduna governor who had also threatened to kill off foreign election observers should they intervene in the botched February 16 presidential elections was the same person who briefed the media and dished out what has turned out as as fake news in which he falsely claimed that 66 Fulani persons, including women and children were massacred.

HURIWA alleged that the governor’s allegation was an attempt to stoke up ethno-religious civil strife and possibly disrupt the general election in a state that has remained volatile since the past three decades.

HURIWA has also condemned the news media that carried the fake information without making any effort to investigate the claims which was dished out to them without any empirical evidence or any shreds of facts or even demanding to see forensic, medical and security reports but proceeded to circulate the half baked tissues of lies and a hate filled story concocted allegedly by the Kaduna governor for purely political reasons.

HURIWA said the action of the media in running with that sensitive but fake story could have undermined national security and imperile peace and ethnic harmony in Nigeria.

The rights group stated that journalism thrives on truth and objectivity and wondered why the media practitioners never asked to see the physical evidence but chose to splash the sensational story on the pages of newspapers on a day the nation was about holding one of the most hotly contested general elections in which the poorly performed President Muhammadu Buhari has displayed overwhelming tendencies that smacks of desperation and avarice for power by all means, including a claim that nobody can unseat him from power.

HURIWA has therefore decided to petition the international community including the international criminal court in The Hague Netherlands to inform these institutions and World leaders that the Kaduna governor must be arrested and prosecuted for crimes against humanity for all the atrocious killings of Christians by armed Fulani terrorists belonging to the Miyetti Allah cattle owners association who share same ethno-religious affinities with governor of Kaduna State.

Meawnhile, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKPU), has alleged that el-Rufai’s comments on the killings in communities in Kajuru LGA of the state,

were deliberately orchestrated to inflame ethnic and religious violence.

SOKAPU, in a statement by its spokesman, Yakubu Kuzamani, accused the governor of “promoting violence through spreading hate speech for the advancement of his waning political survival”.

SOKAPU also expressed shocked over the governor’s statement, saying: “We are at a loss as to the real motive behind the governor’s disclosure, made public less than 24 hours before the commencement of national polls that were postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)”.

The union said “el-Rufai’s comments over the Kajuru killings was deliberately orchestrated to inflame ethnic and religious sentiments to produce yet another cycle of bloodshed”.

SOKAPU said it had reached out to the various community leaders in Kajuru, including officials of the Adara nation to ascertain what actually happened.

Narrating it’s findings from the Adara leaders, SOKAPU said: “On Sunday, February 10, 2019, the Adara natives residing in Ungwar Barde in Kufana District of Kajuru Local Government Area came under attack by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.

“The attack lasted from 10.p.m of Sunday to 4 a.m of Monday February 11, 2019. By the time the merchants of deaths and destructions were through with their mission, no fewer than 11 lives, including a pregnant woman, were lost.

“Scores of victims of the attack on Ungwar Barde sustained injuries, with some of them presently receiving treatment at some health facilities in the state capital. We have been informed that the attackers, seven of them in number, were arrested by a team of policemen.

“Sadly, not a statement was issued by el-Rufai over that gruesome attack on Ungwan Barde.”

The statement explained further that “following the Sunday attack on Ungwan Barde, residents of Ungwan Busa and Doruwa located in Kajuru LGA deserted their villages for safety.

“Presently, the District Head of Kufana and four of his village heads, on the directive the governor, have been summoned to Kaduna and ordered to produce persons behind ‘reprisal attacks’.

“ However, the monarchs have told their interrogators that they are unaware of any ‘reprisal attacks’ and, therefore, unable to identify persons behind such attacks.

“ Apart from the 11 corpses of Adara natives that were killed during the Sunday attack, the community leaders have denied knowledge of any attack.

Arising from the above, SOKAPU is shocked at the deliberate falsehood by el-Rufai who found it convenient not to inform the world of an earlier attack that claimed the lives of 11 Adara natives.

“SOKAPU is convinced that Governor el-Rufai is on an irrevocable journey of inflaming ethnic conflagration that has always been in line with his deliberate chronicle of profiling Southern Kaduna people as favourably disposed to violence”.
Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai reports the death toll from Friday's attack in Kajuru is now more than 130, most from the Fulani ethnic group. Nigerian authorities have not identified the gunmen's motive, but they do not believe the attack was related to the upcoming election.