Soldiers Stood By as Terrorists Attack Chigwam Village
By Mike Ode James
Dueling accounts: Tribal leader in Zangon Kataf, Samuel Achi, president of the Atyap
Community Development Association.
Credit: Mike Odeh James.
The Nigerian army says it arrested two local residents during a brutal attack that killed six residents south of Kaduna on 26 September.
An army spokesman told TruthNigeria two guards were arrested for illegal possession of firearms during the attack in the Takanai village of Zangon Kataf county. The village residents have a different claim.
Residents say up to four guards were arrested while responding to the moonlit evening raid that saw several residents kidnapped while the army looked away.
The army has denied the allegations.
Gun ownership in Nigeria is limited to the military and police under the country’s laws. Yet, communities facing threat of terrorists throughout the northern region are forced by necessity to protect themselves with homemade single-shot pipe guns. And the attacks on law-abiding citizens are happening with alarming regularity in the state of Kaduna, the most populous of the Northcentral states of Nigeria.
Six people were killed, and several others kidnapped in the attack just 2 miles from a prominent military checkpoint, according to locals.
It was the latest in a string of armed incursions by kidnap-for-ransom gangs since U.S. officials warned of a potential terror surge in Africa’s most populous nation.
Three residents were killed in Kaduna’s eastern region 40 miles away in Kaura county the previous day, according to reports.
Within the days prior to the alert on 20 September, TruthNigeria learned at least 20 residents were kidnapped in the southwest of the State after terrorists pounded a cluster of villages known as Pmafe, located in the Kagarko county on September 12and September 14. On 15 September, two people were killed and three others kidnapped nearby Kajuru County, a suburb of Kaduna City, according to reports.
The alert issued by the U.S. Department of State had specifically noted a high risk of “crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed gangs” in 18 States including Kaduna, advising Americans to reconsider traveling to Nigeria.
Just three days after the alert was published, terrorists struck in the village of Geh Kigam in the Kaura county, killing three people according to Stefanos foundation which monitors Christian persecution in Nigeria.
Three other residents were injured in the attack 9 pm local time when residents were preparing to sleep, according to Stefanos.
The attack credited to terrorists identifying as members of the Fulani ethnicity was ignored by local media and was followed by a similar strike 40 miles away in the Zangon Kataf county the following day.
The Fulani are among Nigeria’s most influential political elites and belong to the largest west African ethnic group, but their image in Nigeria has been sullied by the subgroup within the tribe who are linked to atrocities in the nation’s Middle Belt. The attacks upon majority-Christian villages have killed six times more than Boko Haram, according to Humanitarian Aide Relief Trust (HART), a U.K.-based nonprofit.
Six people including babies were killed in the attack on 26 September in Takanai village, said town leaders speaking to TruthNigeria.
Several residents were kidnapped in the attack starting 7 pm local time, according to residents, lasting 40 minutes before the military arrived from bases 2 miles away.
Captain James Oya, spokesman for the special military task force in Plateau and Kaduna States, told TruthNigeria soldiers arrived the village within 20 minutes but missed the terrorists.
Witnesses tell TruthNigeria dozens of terrorists armed with assault rifles swarmed over the village on motorcycles at approximately 7:30 pm local time, shooting and breaking into houses.
Residents who attempted to escape were shot at while those who surrendered were kidnapped, said one witness, Musa Bako David to TruthNigeria.
The terrorists crept into the village hiding in the surrounding corn farms, encircling the village, before opening fire, said David who noted local civilian watchers had little time to defend.
“We were taken unawares,” said David in a telephone interview. “They came very early, and some of us had just finished dinner when we started hearing the booming sounds of machine guns,” David said.
While the assault lasted, several calls to the nearest military checkpoint located 2 miles away seemingly were ignored said a tribal leader in the area, Samuel Achi. Six people including four members of a family were killed while several others were kidnapped, Achi said.
Yet, a group of civilian volunteers from a neighboring village who attempted to intervene in the raid were intercepted by soldiers, Achi told TruthNigeria.
“The Army stood by without doing anything during the attack and when help was about to come our way, they blocked it,” said Achi in a telephone interview.
“As we speak, four of them are still in custody of the Nigerian Army who showed after 40 minutes when the terrorists had escaped with the hostages,” Achi said, accusing the military of complicity with terrorists.
Army spokesman Captain Oya denied the allegations, saying the military arrived as soon as they were notified of the attack. He insisted only two people were arrested for illegal possession of firearms.
“But by the time the soldiers got to the beleaguered community, the terrorists had fled,” Oya said to TruthNigeria by telephone.
“There is a directive by the current Commander of Operation Safe Haven that all distress calls must be responded to within 15 to 20 minutes, and we have always adhered to that,” Oya said, noting civilian volunteers were not blocked from intervening during the attack.
“Two men were arrested at the scene of the incidence for being in possession of weapons,” he said.
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Mike Odeh James covers politics and conflict in Southern Kaduna for TruthNigeria.
