Samuel Aruwan
Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Kaduna State.
samuel.aruwan@kdsg.gov.ng
Your Excellencies, Royal Highnesses, heads of security agencies, distinguished members of State Security Council, gentlemen of the press, you are all welcome to the Security Council meeting and presentation of the Security Situation Report for the First Quarter of 2021.
As was the case with the annual report for 2020, the Ministry is publishing this First Quarter situation report, as part of its efforts to enthrone transparency in managing the complex security situation of the State and to bring to the fore exact and factual security accounts as submitted by the military, police, DSS and all the agencies involved in internal security.
The Ministry remains committed to the involvement of citizens in the campaign against banditry, kidnapping, killings and counter killings via a participatory and collective battle against threats to security and safety of the citizenry.
It is also believed that this work, along with the regular updates will also be of considerable value for planning purposes as well as for academic research.
As you were previously informed, the responsibility of the Ministry is to coordinate issues related to internal security as the buffer between the Kaduna State Government and federal security agencies which comprise the military, police, Department of State Services, and other security agencies.
The other key function of the Ministry is intelligence gathering and coordination of issues related to pilgrimage and other home affairs.
In line with the mandate of the Ministry, today we present the security situation report of Kaduna State from 1st January to 31st March 2021. In this overview I will present the number of citizens killed via banditry, violent attacks, reprisals and communal clashes. You will also be briefed on the number of victims injured from such incidences, as well as victims of kidnapping. The proportion of victims who are women and children will be highlighted. There will also be statistics on cattle rustling.
The report will also give insight on the number of armed bandits neutralized in the period under review, along with quantities of arms and ammunition recovered from bandits and gunrunners.
The statistical overview is therefore presented thus:
Deaths linked to banditry, violent attacks, communal clashes and reprisals in the first quarter totaled 323 across the State. Of this total, 20 were women and 11 were minors (below the age of 18).
Of the total number, 236 deaths were recorded in Kaduna Central Senatorial District (73% of the total recorded). All 236 deaths occurred in Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Igabi, Chikun and Kajuru LGAs, with no deaths from banditry or communal violence recorded in Kaduna North and Kaduna South LGAs.
Birnin Gwari LGA recorded the highest figure with 77 deaths, followed by Chikun LGA with 52, Igabi LGA with 45 and Giwa LGA with 42. Kajuru LGA recorded 20 deaths in the first quarter.
Southern Kaduna Senatorial District had 68 deaths in total, of which 5 were women and 2 were below the age of 18. Kauru LGA had 28 deaths, followed by Zangon Kataf LGA with 14, and Kagarko LGA with 12.
Northern Kaduna Senatorial District was the least affected zone with 19 people killed (about 6% of the total). Zaria LGA had the highest casualty figure of six.
Citizens injured across the state as a result of banditry, violent attacks, reprisals and communal clashes numbered 244 in total. Twenty-five (25) of these were women, and six fell below the age of 18.
Kaduna Central Senatorial District accounted for 168 of the total injured (around 69%). Eighty-one (81) of these occurred in Birnin Gwari LGA, with 34 injured in Chikun LGA and 26 in Giwa LGA.
A total of 57 persons sustained injuries from attacks in Southern Kaduna Senatorial District. Eighteen (18) of these were in Kagarko LGA, 11 in Kauru LGA and 10 in Zangon Kataf LGA.
Nineteen (19) persons were injured in Northern Kaduna Senatorial District, and two of these were women. Soba LGA had the highest figure with six (6) injured persons.
Out of the 949 people kidnapped in the first quarter, Kaduna Central Senatorial District accounts for 782 (82% of the total). Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Igabi, Chikun and Kajuru account for 778 of these.
Birnin Gwari LGA had 291 persons kidnapped, Igabi LGA had 227, Chikun LGA had 156 and Giwa LGA had 58. Kajuru LGA recorded 46 kidnapped persons.
Southern Kaduna Senatorial District recorded 129 kidnapped persons, with Kachia and Kagarko LGAs posting the highest numbers with 67 and 34 respectively.
Kaduna North Senatorial District recorded 38 kidnapped persons, with 21 of these from Zaria LGA.
In total, 317 women, and 82 minors were kidnapped in the first quarter across the state.
Most of the 3,289 heads of cattle rustled in the state were stolen from the Kaduna Central Senatorial District, which accounted for around 89% of the total (2,919).
Igabi and Giwa had the highest figures of rustled animals in the first quarter, with 1,537 and 1,061 respectively.
KADUNA STATE GOVERNMENT’S EFFORTS
The Kaduna State Government has sustained strategies to address the security challenges affecting the state. Notable among these are:
Strengthening the human intelligence gathering networks in critical areas;
Providing ample support to the Federal Security Agencies, especially in terms of reinforcements and logistics;
Empowering the Kaduna State Peace Commission to engage communities and incline them towards peaceful resolution of differences;
Supporting strong responses to areas considered as main flash points in the State
In the first quarter of 2021, a total of 64 bandits were neutralized during engagements with ground forces (Military and Police) at the following locations:
Damari, Ungwan Jarmi, and Gagafada, Birnin Gwari LGA
Rafin Rikamba and Gwagwada, Chikun LGA
Rinji and Dan Alhaji, Ikara LGA
Ungwan Yango and Ungwan Bawa, Saminaka, Lere LGA
Doka and Cibiya, Kufana, Kajuru LGA
Galadimawa, Fatika and Yadi, Giwa LGA
Maiyashi, Anchau, Kubau LGA
Offensives by the Nigerian Air Force
To complement the efforts of the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air Force has sustained the execution of armed reconnaissance and air strikes. This has impacted greatly in emboldening the ground offensives of the army to significant effect. In the process, scores of bandits were neutralized, and dozens of camps destroyed. The combined operations of the army and air force have continued in the first quarter of 2021.
From January to March, about 150 aerial missions were conducted in tandem with ground operations. These missions were mainly Intelligence Surveillances and Reconnaissance, Armed Reconnaissance and Patrols.
Sorties were flown over identified targets in and around locations spanning Birnin Gwari, Igabi, Giwa, Chikun and Kachia LGAs, as well as neighboring Niger State.
The air component of the Operation Thunder Strike has thus succeeded in neutralizing many bandits in the forests of Kachia, Kajuru, Chikun and Kagarko local government areas, as well as in the forests around the border with Niger State. Kaduna-Kachia-Kafanchan and other parts of Southern Kaduna were included.
Noteworthy among the bandits thus neutralized in the first quarter of 2021, was the notorious bandit leader Rufai Maikaji, who commanded over a hundred fighters.
Rufai Maikaji and his group were confirmed to be responsible for the killing, kidnapping and cattle rustling in many communities spanning Giwa, Igabi and Chikun local government areas especially in Iyatawa, Garke, Kumfa, Bakali, Karau-Karau, Galadimawa, Anaba, Kerawa, Hashimawa, Sabon Birni, Buruku, parts of Chikun LGA and the Kaduna-Birnin Gwari Road.
Maikaji and dozens of his gang members were neutralized in late February during aerial missions around the fringes of the Malul Forest in Igabi LGA of Kaduna Central Senatorial District.
ARMS AND AMMUNITION
Several gunrunners have been intercepted and arrested, with arms and ammunition recovered. In the first quarter of 2021, the following quantities of arms and ammunition were recovered from bandits:
1 Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) tube
1,959 rounds of live ammunition
Vigorous investigations are ongoing towards dismantling more gun-running networks and blocking arms routes into the state, as these are central to the perpetuation of violence and armed banditry, through the trade in small arms and light weapons.
CONCLUSION
The data presented shows the distribution of security challenges across the State in the first quarter of 2021. Victims of criminal acts like banditry and kidnapping are, yet again, to be found across ethnic, religious, or political leanings and persuasions.
The Kaduna State Government has deployed institutional and collaborative measures to address security challenges in the state. Through the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, federal security agencies are coordinated and supported in their security operations. These efforts are reinforced by soft initiatives under the aegis of the Kaduna State Peace Commission.
The position of the Kaduna State Government remains the same: recourse to the law is vital in tackling inter-communal violence, while as stated earlier, citizens taking the law into their hands will not be countenanced. Criminals will not be accorded refuge and comfort in their religious or ethnic identities. They will be exposed and described as outlaws, not shielded or allowed to claim justification.
The Kaduna State Government appreciates the immediate past heads of security agencies, who have moved on to new stations in the period under review and similarly thanks the current Commanders and heads of agencies. Gratitude also goes to the traditional rulers and religious leaders, and the vast human intelligence network across the State. Crucially, this report is presented in solemn recognition of the fact that many of our citizens have suffered unquantifiable losses and unimaginable pain in the last few weeks and months, due to the scourge which confronts us all. Many still suffer untold anguish and torture as the activities of bandits and terrorists tear our families apart. The Kaduna State Government extends its empathy to each of these individuals and families, alongside the reassurance of unyielding determination to confront and defeat this evil.
The depoliticization of our common problems, cannot be overemphasized. While certain quarters apparently take some absurd delight in our collective pain, well-meaning members of the public are urged to eschew commentaries loaded with prejudice, emotions and sentiments which cripple peace.
The Kaduna State Government also calls for the active collaboration of citizens in this fight against banditry, terror and criminality by volunteering useful information on suspicious activities or hideouts promptly, for action by security agencies.
The Kaduna State Security Operations Room remains open 24 hours a day to receive information and incident reports on the phone lines: 09034000060 and 08170189999. Citizens are also encouraged to follow the social media pages of the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs for regular security updates.
Thank you very much for your time.
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