Jemutu Katarma, the National Coordinator of the women’s wing of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has disclosed that one of the kidnapped girls has died while in captivity.
She disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen in Kaduna on Monday, explaining that hundreds of villages in the area have been sacked and some taken over by bandits, while many people displaced.
She said late Kauna Ali who became very sick at the hands of the bandit last year died out of inaccessibility to medical care.
“Let me sadly inform you that Kauna Ali became very sick at the hands of the bandit last year. With no medical care, she died. We got the sad news from one of the kidnapped girls via a phone call from the bandits’ phone. No one knows where the corpse is as of today.”
According to Katarma, no less than 27 women and 4 boys were kidnapped by bandits in Southern Kaduna in recent times.
“Hundreds of our villages have been sacked, and some have been taken over by bandits. Even the immediate past government of the state has been reporting these atrocities to the press every quarter of each year.
“Our people, especially women and children in their thousands, are rendered IDPs. It is usually women and children that suffer the most during such displacements.”
The statement added “Of particular note, we want to bring to the attention of His Excellency, Governor Uba Sani, a terrible development that happened to his citizens on October 2, 2023, in Kachuwe, close to Sarkin Pawa in Niger State. After their villages suffered several invasions from bandits in Chikun, they decided to move to Kachuwe, which they thought was safer to start life all over again by farming.
“Unfortunately, armed bandits stormed the village on October 2, 2021, and killed 13 male adults and a young girl. After committing the crime, they looted the village of foodstuffs and animals. They then burned down the village. They spared the lives of the old women and sick old men.
She recalled that on Saturday, October 7, 2023, the bandits entered Maikudi farms in Chikuri village, in Chikun LGA, where villagers were farming and kidnapped 14 women and a boy. “Therefore, we can confirm that at least 27 women and girls and 4 boys who are citizens of Kaduna State from Chikun LGA are in the hands of kidnappers, with one already dead,” she added.
SOKAPU called on the state government to with the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, who is an indigene of Southern Kaduna, and other security chiefs to do all it will take to return the kidnap victims.
