Locals in communities within the Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State are expressing increased alarm at deteriorating insecurity in the region, stating that in the last three months alone, over 50 people have died while more than a thousand have been abducted in suspected banditry attacks.
Community leaders lament that due to the persistence of these attacks, thousands of villagers have abandoned their homes and that the farming seasons will be completely ruined in the region, leaving hundreds fearing for their lives.
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Local leaders have revealed that attacks have escalated in the last few months since May with many groups raiding villages, gunning down community dwellers, kidnapping them for ransom and burning property.
They have warned that the increasing insecurity crippled the people and especially farmers who have left their farmlands at the height of the planting season, signaling serious food problems for the entire region.
The alert is the latest amid recurring attacks; there have been other attacks in the region which reportedly led to 30 people being killed, mostly women and children while villagers set fire to the homes of their co-travelers following an attack in Naridon village within the same local government Monday, where armed men are reported to have invaded the settlement after midnight and opened fire, leaving before security forces arrived hours later.
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Representatives of the communities have implored the federal government, the Kaduna state government, and security agencies to increase the military intervention in the area, enhance intelligence work and deploy more soldiers to susceptible regions. They have also called for humanitarian assistance to the displaced families and victims of the attacks to be provided urgently.
Kaduna has continued to be one of the worst hit states concerning banditry and mass kidnappings in northwest Nigeria and many locals are appealing to the authorities to do something concrete to secure the state and let the displaced people go back home safely.
