Herdsmen kill 20 in Kaduna; 24-hr Curfew Imposed

• Herdsmen kill 20 in Kaduna; 24-hr Curfew Imposed

Herdsmen, between Saturday and yesterday, allegedly killed no fewer than 20 persons after laying siege to Godogodo, a semi-urban settlement in Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Policemen and those who managed to escape the onslaught, said Godogodo was razed, with the casualty figure put at 20, aside from those injured.

The incident was said to have heightened tension between the majority Christian population of Kafanchan, about 12 kilometres north of Godogodo, and its minority settler population of Hausa/Fulani Muslims.

Following the incident, the Interim Management Committee, IMC, Chairman of Jema’a LGA, Dr. Humble, yesterday, slammed a 24-hour curfew on the council.

Kafanchan is the headquarters of Jema’a LGA, about 250 kilometres South of Kaduna metropolis and also the commercial and socio-political hub of Southern Kaduna.

Local community leaders told Vanguard yesterday that Godogodo had been under invasion by the armed men for two days, with a substantial part of the town razed, while women and children were killed in the inferno.

Eyewitness accounts said some persons, who tried to escape, where shot or cut down with machetes.

Kaduna State Police spokesman, Aliyu Usman, confirmed the violence, saying that no fewer than two policemen were killed in an earlier raid near Gogogodo last Friday.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association, Kaduna State chapter, Dr. Haruna Usman, in response to Vanguard’s inquiry on the alleged role of his members in the said violence, brusquely replied via a text message, “I don’t know anything about that yet.”