Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen opened fire on a crowd of people at Yangal village in Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing seven on the spot and injuring 12 others.
The village was thrown into mourning on Tuesday night, as the campaign train of Governor Mukhtar Yero reached in the southern part of the state.
Among the seven persons killed was an 87-year-old woman, simply identified as Mama Hauwa Bello.
The acting Chairman of Zango-Kataf Local Government Area, Mr. Jonathan Asake, who confirmed the incident, told newsmen that he got a distress call at about 12am on Wednesday that some armed Fulani men attacked a crowd of people in the Yangal village.
Asake, also a former member of the House of Representatives, said when he got to the scene of the incident, he assisted in evacuating five corpses and 12 injured persons to the St. Louis Hospital, Zonkwa, about 15 kilometres from Yangal village.
He said it was unfortunate that the attack came when the governor’s campaign train was slated to arrive the area on Thursday.
He said that no arrest was made. According to him, before soldiers arrived the scene of the attack, the gunmen had fled.
Asake said, “I reached Yangal village this morning and met scores of angry, sticks-and knife-wielding youths who wanted to descend on me for coming late. I was told that an old woman had passed on and had been buried.
“According to the villagers, two Fulani men were sighted around 9pm on Tuesday night around the venue of the celebration. One with a gun and the other had nothing on him. Not suspecting anything, the group went on with their cerebration.
“Then the armed man opened fire on the crowd with his AK 47 rifle. He killed five people on the spot and two later died in the hospital. I saw the corpses and those 12 that were injured. We evacuated them to the St. Luis Hospital. I left the hospital around 5am this morning. Of those injured, nine were critically hit, and we have taken them to a more equipped hospital in Jos, Plateau State.
“By the time soldiers arrived the village, the two men had fled and the village was in confusion.
“This is calculated either to frustrate the governorship campaign of the Peoples Democratic Party or it was a diversion to steal cows. Governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero is expected to arrive Zango Kataf, tomorrow (today) to continue with his campaign tour, and we know how desperate the opposition are to unseat our government by all means.”
Meanwhile, Yero has condemned the killing, while campaigning in the southern part of the state.
It was learnt that rather than pay on-the-spot visit to the scene of the attack, the governor mandated his deputy to visit the area and went ahead with his campaign in other parts of the area (southern Kaduna).
The governor, through his Director-General on Media and Public Affairs, Mallam Ahmed Mayaki, said he was saddened by the development. He said the attack was an attempt by miscreants to cause confusion and heighten tension in the state.
He called on the people of the area and the entire state to remain calm while he directed the State Emergency Management Agency to immediately move to the affected community to provide the victims with the necessary support and assistance.
Yero also commiserated with the victims’ families, just as he said the hospital bills of those injured in the attack would be paid by the state government.
“It is rather sad that some people will stop at nothing in achieving their selfish goals, including shedding the blood of innocent citizens of the state,” he said.