The Middle Belt Forum, the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union and the Kaduna State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria on Wednesday advised the Presidency to stop twisting facts on the Southern Kaduna killings.
The groups made the call in their separate reactions to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Presidency on the killings in Southern Kaduna.
They said there was no deployment of troops in Southern Kaduna contrary to what the Presidency said.
Also reacting to the statement, the Northern Elders’ Forum urged the Federal Government and other stakeholders to stop what it called blame game in addressing the Southern Kaduna killings.
But the Kaduna State chapter of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria said the Presidency was saying the truth.
There have increasing attacks by gunmen on Southern Kaduna in recent times. On Sunday night, 21 people were killed when gunmen attacked Kukum Daji village in the Kaura Local Government of Kaduna State.
On Monday, some gunmen attacked Gora Gan village in the Zango-Kataf Local Government Area of the state and killed 10 people including the village head.
The President’s Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement titled, ‘Revenge killings worsening security problems in Southern Kaduna –Presidency,’ on Tuesday said, “From available security records, the problem in Southern Kaduna is an evil combination of politically-motivated banditry, revenge killings and mutual violence by criminal gangs acting on ethnic and religious grounds.
“It is a situation in which one criminal group will kill a member of another criminal group out of ethnic and religious motivations which in turn leads to the eruption of revenge and counter-revenge, thereby making the job of the security personnel deployed to protect lives more difficult.”