SMBLF condemns Kurmin Wali mass kidnapping, calls for immediate action

The Southern and Middle Belt Leadership Forum (SMBLF) has condemned “the heinous and barbaric” kidnapping of 177 people from Kurmin Wali village, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

A statement issued on Thursday by Oba Oladipo Olaitan, Leader of SMBLF and Afenifere, Dr Bitrus Pogu, President of the Middle Belt Forum, Senator John Azuta-Mbata, President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, and Ambassador Godknows Igali, National Chairman of PANDEF, said: “This reprehensible crime, which targeted harmless civilians worshipping peacefully in their community, is yet another tragic reminder of the unrelenting terror being visited upon indigenous populations of the Middle Belt. We stand firmly in solidarity with the Adara people, Southern Kaduna, and all victims of terrorism across the region.”

The statement noted that what has further compounded the atrocity is the “irresponsible and shocking public denial of the mass kidnapping by the Kaduna State Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Barr. Sule Shu’aibu; the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, CP Mohammed Rabiu; and the Chairman of Kajuru Local Government Council, Mr. Madaki Dauda.”

SMBLF said it viewed the conduct “not merely as a betrayal of public trust, but as a grave act of incompetence that undermined rescue efforts, emboldened the criminals, and gave the kidnappers valuable time to relocate their captives to remote terror enclaves.”

They lamented: “Now that the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, has publicly affirmed that the kidnapping indeed occurred, there can be no moral or administrative justification for silence or inaction. We therefore expect the appropriate authorities to sanction all officials who deliberately misled the public, obstructed emergency response, or sought to trivialise the suffering of victims.”

The statement added: “This grievous crime has once again validated the long-standing position of the SMBLF in strongly condemning the so-called amnesty programme granted to armed bandits and terrorists in Kaduna State. It is deeply insensitive and strategically reckless for the Kaduna State Government to continue offering free medical care, educational opportunities for the children of terrorists, and skills acquisition programmes to violent criminals who have neither surrendered their weapons nor renounced terrorism, while their victims are abandoned to trauma, displacement, and poverty.”

Even more alarming, the statement said, is the reality that hundreds of indigenous communities in Southern Kaduna remain without any meaningful security presence, while scarce public resources are being expended on the welfare of those who have shed innocent blood.

It also alleged: “Let it be clearly stated that the Middle Belt has increasingly become the most fertile ground for terrorist banditry, where human lives are commodified for ransom with little consequence for the perpetrators. Recent events beyond Kaduna State further reinforce the dangerous pattern in the Middle Belt.”

According to the statement, the “horrifying” abduction of over 300 school pupils and their teachers from Papiri community in Agwara LGA of Niger State, and the mass abduction of Christians during worship at Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Oke Isegun, in Eruku town, Ekiti LGA of Kwara State in the Middle Belt, among others, provides “chilling” evidence of systematic attacks on Christian communities across Nigeria by Islamic terrorists.

It stated that these incidents lend weight to widespread affirmation about an unfolding Christian genocide through terror and state failure.

SMBLF called on the Federal Government to immediately deploy all necessary military and intelligence resources to secure the safe rescue of the abducted, law-abiding citizens of Kurmin Wali.

The forum requested that all public officials who denied or downplayed the crime must be suspended and thoroughly investigated for their roles in obstructing justice and endangering lives.

It stated that Governor Uba Sani must urgently establish and properly fund community-based vigilante formations in every Southern Kaduna community, to serve as a first line of defence against terrorist incursions.

The statement added that the governors of the Middle Belt states must immediately form a Joint Regional Security Outfit, similar to the South-West model, to enhance intelligence sharing across state boundaries and to enable rapid, coordinated responses to attacks.

“The time for the formation of State Police is long overdue. The National Assembly must as a matter of urgency start working on a bill that will facilitate it,” it explained.

The SMBLF said that only a restructured Nigeria with a new Constitution can guarantee the safety, progress, and wellbeing of every citizen and insisted that Nigeria must be restructured largely based on the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference.

The statement added that it is time for Nigeria to activate and operationalise its security cooperation agreements with the United States and Israel, as it has become evident that Nigeria cannot defeat these transnational terror networks in isolation.

The forum called on Governor Uba Sani to abandon what it called “the failed policy of appeasing terrorists” and to place the welfare, safety, and security of law-abiding citizens above all other considerations, saying that the lives of innocent Nigerians must never be treated as expendable.

“The government must do everything necessary to ensure the immediate rescue of the abducted and to prevent the recurrence of such horrors,” the statement explained.

SMBLF condemns Kurmin Wali mass kidnapping, calls for immediate action