Miyetti Allah, the umbrella body of Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria has blamed the youths of southern Kaduna for the renewed and incessant killings in the state.

Recall that the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, SOKAPU, had raised an alarm that its area was under a siege by Fulani armed men. SOKAPU had alleged of genocidal campaign by Fulani militia.

Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN’s spokesman Ibrahim Bayero Zango, said the killings were revenge actions on youths of Zango Kataf who allegedly waylaid some Fulani herdsmen on intentional routes.

While condemning the “viciousness and inhuman killings and destruction of property of innocent nomads that took place in some parts Zango Kataf Local Government, MACBAN said two innocent Fulani nomads were killed at Ungwan Gaiya near the palace of the Chief of Kataf in the house of Alhaji Ja’e, who has been leaving in the area for almost a century.

“The question that requires to be answered is the relationship between the farmland in dispute and the crisis, which caused the killings of innocent Fulani nomads in the areas mentioned above by the Kataf youth in which two innocent Fulani nomads were killed at Ungwan Gaiya near the palace of the Chief of Kataf in the house of Alhaji Ja’e, who has been leaving in the area for almost a century.

“The two men that were killed are Abdullahi Ja’e and Pate Ja’e who were in their early thirties. Another two young men with an elderly woman were killed at Ungwan Juju.

“Four others were killed at Gora Sagwaza and one person was killed at Matai.

“We also condemned the barbaric acts of the Kataf youths, who waylayed and killed some Fulani nomads, who were passing by through the International Cattle Routes, which cross the areas on their ways to Bauchi State,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Kaduna state Governor Nasir ElRufai has imposed a 24 hour curfew in the affected areas to forestall further escalation of the crisis.