Victims of 2011 violence in Southern Kaduna have asked the federal government to pay the N4 billion compensation earmarked for them. The victims, under the umbrella of Southern Kaduna Muslim Ummah Development Association, made the appeal at a press conference yesterday in Kaduna.
The association’s chairman, Ahmad Yandeh, said the victims had been abandoned and forgotten since the crisis that occurred seven years ago in which over 1, 000 Muslims were killed. “It is an incontrovertible fact that the April 2011 Post Election Violence which took the typology of ethnoreligious cleansing (genocide) in some parts of Southern Kaduna had led to the death of over one thousand Muslims.
“The forceful displacement of over 25,000 families from 38 settlements and the complete destruction of their dwellings, places of worship, farmlands, livestock and other means of livelihoods,” he said. According to him, the federal government promised to pay a compensation of N7 billion to the victims but only released N3 billion through the Kaduna state government.
“The Kaduna state government promised repeatedly to prosecute the culprits, but up to now to no avail. The violence has left behind huge humanitarian challenges facing the survivors made up widows, orphans, Internally Displaced Persons who were robbed of their homes, means of livelihood and places of worship.”
“We acknowledge the efforts of various organizations, local and International, various Stakeholders such as NGOs, CSOs, CBOs, Foreign Embassies, and NASS Committees etc for the sundry efforts in peace building and mediation efforts in southern Kaduna.
“We also wish to recognise the laudable efforts of the federal and the Kaduna state government for beefing up the security architecture in and around Kafanchan and do hereby, appeal to for the extension of the same to other parts of the area. “We commend the Kaduna state government for the establishment of the permanent Peace Commission in the State with the aim of addressing all issues in the state.” (Premium Times)
