It's very hard to characterise the Southern Kaduna crisis. There are multiple cases of attacks that have been reported in the media just this year alone. According to some historians, the Southern Kaduna crisis has lasted so long that it predated the independence of Nigeria.
Every other week now, a story of killing or abduction in Southern Kaduna breaks. Just a few days ago, some students writing the WAEC examination were abducted in Southern Kaduna.
Source: National Daily Newspaper
So what exactly are the root causes of this crisis? A close analysis shows that this crisis has all the trappings of both an ethnic and religious orientation. So, it's been dubbed as an ethnoreligious crisis by some commentators.
Southern Kaduna is predominantly a Christian region. This is the reason why these attacks are suggestive of a religious crisis. Former Deputy Governor of Central Bank, Obadiah Mailafia during a radio interview he granted about three weeks ago also argued that the crisis has an ethnoreligious undercurrent.
In the early hours of Friday, Daily Post reports that another attack was staged by suspected Fulani Herders in Mararaba Rido, Chikun local government area of Kaduna State. According to the report, the attack was staged at the house of Rev. Abu Dreams, the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in Kaduna north local government.
Though they were not able to break into the pastor's house, they kidnapped a sick police officer, a 14-year-old girl, and two others. Rev. Abu Dreams said, “the suspected kidnappers first came to my house at exactly 11:57pm and they called, spoke in Fulani and Hausa language that l should open the door for them. Immediately, l and my family started praying for divine intervention from God Almighty.
Source: Secure Nigeria 365
“While we were praying and refused to open the entrance to the house, they tried using hammer to break the entrance to the house but could not succeed. While they were making efforts to have their way into the house, we were still praying to God for help.
“They later used automatic gun by shooting on the door so that they could gain entrance to the house, yet we were still praying and at the same time, l called on the police to inform them of what we were going through and for their immediate assistance. Before the police personnel could come to the house, they left without gaining entrance to the house.”
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