Head of Volunteer Guards Murdered, Buried as a Hero
By Luka Binniyat
(Kaduna-BREAKING) Armed Christian farmers in Southern Kaduna are picking up the pieces after a devastating twilight hours strike on April 27, TruthNigeria can exclusively report.
Fulani ethnic terrorists waited a year to catch volunteer guards sleeping before abducting a village chief, the local pastor, and his family — while slashing to death the beloved guard team leader, according to eyewitnesses. Killed Monday night was Mr. Bako Musa (a.k.a. “Chiles”), the head of Gidan Ali security, 34, who was married with two children. Hustled into the forest Monday night is Pastor Andrew Dunia, 45, his wife Murna, 40, and their adult children, Stephen, 20, and Maryamu, 18.
Pastor Dunia’s children are students at the College of Education, Gidan Waya, in mineral-rich Jemaa County, Southern Kaduna.
Also wounded and taken hostage: an elder who serves as the village mayor, Mr. Andu Akulo,” according to an eyewitness.
Fulani ethnic militia have targeted Zangon Kataf County, the local government area surrounding Gidan Ali, for years in an effort to take control of a region brimming with undeveloped minerals. The village belongs to the Ikulu ethnic group under Ikulu Chiefdom and are said to be 99 percent Christians.
The Hon. Sam Kambai, the delegate representing Zangon Kataf County in the Kaduna State House of Assembly, confirmed the tragic development. Kambai told TruthNigeria May 1 he has briefed top security personnel, adding that efforts to rescue the hostages are underway. He told
A nephew of the kidnapped pastor, Augustine Makama, 27, said he is surprised that no one is speaking about the kidnapping of his uncle, who serves as a senior minister of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA).
“I have not heard or read about it in the news even as it is getting to nearly a week today, as if my uncle is not a senior pastor with ECWA,” said Makama, who is also a member of the volunteer guards, dubbed “vigilantes”, in Gidan Ali.
Lulled by Months of Inactivity
“We had reduced the number of our night patrol squad from 45 to 21 after several months of no attacks by Fulani kidnappers in most of Ikulu land,” Makama told TruthNigeria.
He explained that they had formed a formidable network between his community and neighboring villages, where every alert would lead to the mobilization of hundreds of vigilantes from other communities.
“After foiling several attacks and neutralizing the kidnappers, they stopped coming for almost a year now,” he added, regretting the mistake to let down their guard.
“They came in two groups of about 12 each,” he said.
“One group went for Chiles and another to the house of my uncle,” he said.
Most of those who were supposed to be on duty had gone home or were sleeping, even when the dogs were unusually restless around 5 a.m. that Monday morning, Makama added.
“From what we later gathered, they broke into Chiles’ room and shot him twice in the head.
“The other group easily got into Pastor Dunia’s home. He had a young sister-in-law who is 21 years old and a nursing mother with a three-month-old baby. They shot her in the leg and herded my uncle and his family into the bush,” he told TruthNigeria.
According to him, the entire operation did not last more than seven minutes.
Delayed Response
He said that they thought that the few gunshots they then heard were the usual ones they occasionally fired at night to warn intending marauders.
“It was after they left that we started hearing the screaming of women wailing over the violence,” he said.
“Before we mobilized and alerted our neighbors, they had fled with them on motorcycles that they came with and hid far away from the village,” he said.
“The Fulani kidnappers are demanding N70 million ($50,000). And there is no way that we can raise that kind of money even within a year,” according to a village source speaking to TruthNigeria.
“We buried Chiles yesterday at the family compound. We buried him as a hero, because he has done a lot to secure us,” Makama said.
Luka Binniyat writes for TruthNigeria on politics and conflict from Kaduna.
