GOVERNOR Nasir el-Rufai says at least 387 lives were lost to communal clashes in Kauru and Zangon Kataf local government areas in 2020 and 2021.
The governor stated this today at an emergency security meeting with traditional rulers, religious and community leaders from the areas.
Represented by Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner of Home Affairs and Internal Security, at the meeting held at the palace of the Agwatyap, A̠tak Njei, in Zangon Kataf, el-Rufai said the lives were lost to clashes among Atyap, Fulani, Chawai, Irigwe and Hausa ethnic communities in the two areas.
The governor called the security meeting following fresh deadly clashes in the areas.
Aruwan was accompanied to the meeting by heads of security agencies.
“We are here on behalf of the governor following the renewed killings in Kauru and Zangon Kataf local government areas. It is a big setback but we will not relent,” the commissioner said.
“We are reiterating our appeal for recourse to the law and avoidance of generalisation. These killings and counter killings are unjustifiable.
“For instance in 2020, 114 citizens were killed in Zangon Kataf and 28 in Kauru, and in 2021, 186 were killed in Zangon Kataf and 59 in Kauru and if you put the figures, we lost 387 people in these two councils. In 2021, 100 citizens ‘incurred’ gun shot injuries in the two councils, 77 in Zangon Kataf and 23 in Kauru.
“This is aside, houses and settlements burnt, farms destroyed, cattle killed and collapse of the rural economy affecting all the communities.
“We must rise to the occasion and put a stop to all these challenges, arising from the behavior of a few elements on all sides. Let us reason together and avert this needless bloodshed.”
