SOKAPU: Bandits Displaced 160,000 People in Southern Kaduna

The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), has declared that more than 160,000 people across 143 communities in the Southern part of Kaduna State have been displaced by bandits.

The President of the SOKAPU, Mr. Jonathan Asake, who addressed a press conference in Kaduna yesterday, said that more than N900 million was paid to kidnappers as ransom from January to December, 2020, adding that those who could not pay ransom were killed.

Asake said that those who are displaced are mostly women and children, who are currently living under very harsh and dehumanising conditions.

He expressed concern over the spate of insecurity that has engulfed the country, noting that Nigeria is undergoing severe security challenges as the Boko Haram terrorists, bandits and other criminal elements continued to unleash terror on people.

The incessant kidnappings, massacre and displacement of indigenous people from their homes, according to him, have continued unabated.

Asake said: “Presently, in most of our communities across the 12 local governments in the Southern Kaduna, there are reported cases of daily abductions on the road, farms, homes, markets and worship centres where victims have gone through unimaginable torture and relations forced to pay outrageous sums of money as ransom.

“As I address you today, no fewer than 143 communities across our local government areas in Southern Kaduna have been completely displaced, with over160,000 persons, mostly women and children, now living under very harsh and dehumanising conditions devoid of food, medication and other necessities of life.