A coalition of civil society groups, Southern Kaduna Indigenous Peace Practitioners, SOKIPEP, has called for the immediate parade and prosecution of suspects arrested in connection with the killings in the southern part of Kaduna State.
The coalition also lauded the efforts of the military for the number of arrest made so far in the attacks.
The civil society groups, in a statement by its Coordinator, Rev Dr Dauda Fadia, appealed to the military to hand over the suspected militia members in their custody to the Police for immediate parade and prosecution.
The statement enjoined the locals to always provide genuine and credible information to the troops deployed to the area, stressing that the security personnel were finding it difficult to determine genuine and false alarms, a situation they said was not helping the efforts of the security outfits in the area.
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Rev. Fadia explained, “We observed with dismay that sometimes, the military promptly respond to information given them by our people only to realise the information was false. This is counterproductive and not healthy for a people that want the security agencies to nib the crisis in their domain in the bud.
The statement noted that the military was doing a lot and should be encouraged rather than blaming them for the once intractable crisis.
The statement noted, “We at SOKIPEP, note with sadness the remarks made by some women protesters recently where they reportedly linked military personnel working in the area to the crisis.”
The group appreciated the right of the women to protest and also to express their grief and emotions but stated clearly that the military should not be drawn into the Southern Kaduna crisis.
The group explained that its members, who are mostly from Southern Kaduna vigilante, are working closely with the security outfits on patrol and intelligence gathering in the area.
It added, “Our members constitute most of the vigilante members and cut across the entire Southern Kaduna. We have been working closely with the military on patrol and sharing intelligence which have greatly reduced the number of attacks and even casualties. We are also aware that they have prevented some attacks.”
The group appealed to the people of Southern Kaduna to remain peaceful and law-abiding by giving timely and credible information to the military and other security agencies.
DAILY POST