General Okonkwo,
General Okonkwo, Gov Elrufai Speak on Killing in
Southern Kaduna
General Okonkwo, Gov Elrufai Speak on Killing in Southern
Kaduna
Southern Kaduna crisis not ethnic cleansing–Commander
The Commander of Operation Safe Haven, Major General Chukwuemeka
Okonkwo has described the killings in Southern Kaduna as the
activities of criminal elements on both sides and not ethnic
cleansing as it is being claimed.
General Okonkwo who briefed journalists after the high level
security meeting which held at the council chambers of Government
House Kaduna on Tuesday, said that ‘’what we have were attacks on
some communities and reprisal attacks.’’
According to him, both sides of the conflict have been attacking
each other but ‘’the reports are not balanced. Perhaps, most of the
media houses don’t know, both sides are actually involved.’’
‘’You have Kataf youths, Fulani militias and the criminal
elements of both sides. Some people are also leveraging on the
security situation to perpetuate their criminal activities, aside
communities involved in the crisis,’’ Okonkwo added.
The commander said that ‘’any incident is enough to spark off
crisis in that area, they have been lingering disputes and
animosities, banditry and cattle rustling there.’’
The commander promised that the military and other security
agents will re-strategise and ‘’we will deploy as much as possible
to shorten our response time.’’
General Okonkwo assured that there is going to be improvement
because ‘’we have reviewed our operations. We are going to close
ranks. We are going to be more robust in the days to come.’’
He said that contrary to the allegations that the military and
other security agents were not doing enough to contain the attacks,
he argued that ‘’if one or two attacks took place, three were
prevented.’’
The commander said that although there have been some gaps in
their operations, he listed difficulty of the terrain and limited
manpower as constraints, adding that in spite of those challenges,
they are committed to bringing peace in the area.
‘’If you know the area very well, the communities are far and
dispersed, they are several kilometres apart from each other. The
terrain is difficult to access with vehicles. And we have
limitation of manpower but of course you know that we are
committed.
‘’But be that as it may, we are going to get more troops. We are
strategising, we will deploy as much as possible to shorten our
response time. Perhaps, we used to respond a bit late but if we had
not responded, we could have had more casualties,’’ he
explained.
General Okonkwo said that there is need to the communities to
embrace peace, adding that ‘’we will create the conducive
environment for them to meet, dialogue and resolve issues so that
they can continue to live together as they have been living
together.’’
The commander promised that ‘’community leaders and other
stakeholders will be carried along in the search for lasting peace
because it is not entirely a military issue.
‘’’The leaders have to embrace peace and we will give them the
conducive environment to have peace parleys, meetings and
mediations, to bring the crisis to an end,’’ he added.
The General said that the military and all the security forces
are working closely with the state government, adding that Governor
Nasir El Rufai ‘’has pledged to support us.’’