From PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi
Wednesday, November 16 , 2011



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The relative peace in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area of Bauchi State is being threatened following the gruesome murder of two undergraduates in the area. The killing of Bukata Bitrus and Masoyi Bitrus has now brought to eight the number of persons silently killed in the area in the last three months, Daily Sun learnt.

The state police command Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mohammed Barau confirmed the killings in an interview with our correspondent on telephone yesterday.

Barau, an Assistant Superintendant of Police, (ASP) said an investigation into the murder had begun. Our correspondent learnt that the latest victims, Bukata Bitrus and Masoyi Bitrus were hacked to death near Dalmundin village last Thursday at about 7pm in the evening.

They were reported to be riding on a motorcycle when they were waylaid and attacked with machetes.
The Secretary of the Sayawa Traditional Rulers and Council of Elders, Bukata Zhadi condemned the killings in an interview with our correspondent in Tafawa Balewa.
Zhadi lamented that no fewer than eight youths in the area had been killed within the last three months and fingered the Hausa Fulanis as responsible.

“The way Bukata and Masoyi were killed was most brutal. They were inflicted with several cuts on their heads, faces, shoulders and body,” he said.
Zhadi said the killing of the two youths was a sad development to the community as they were both peace loving persons with promising future.

The late Bukata, an orphan it was learnt was preparing to travel the next day for his clearance, having gained admission to the Federal College of Education Technical, Postikum before his dream was cut short.
“He had no parents, his only brother, Godia, was killed in the January 27 crisis in Tafawa Balewa by Hausa Fulani, now his younger brother had receives the same fate. Godiya was an employee of Bogoro Local Government Area,” he added.
Similarly, he revealed his bosom friend, Masoyi just gained admission to the Gombe State University before his murder.

“We feel really bad about these killings. The community is not out to retaliate or do anything but we want the government to investigate the guerrilla attacks carried out on the Sayawa in Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa local government areas.
“The killings of these two has brought the number to eight in three months. The victims, who were from Sayawa were always ambushed and killed, some in their houses and some during the raids. The security operatives must investigate these attacks,” Zhadi appealed.

Daily Sun gathered that Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro had become flashpoints due to attacks and counter attacks between the Hausa Fulani and Sayawa communities in the area, which had claimed hundreds of lives and property worth millions of naira.
Experts believe the problem, which is rooted in politics usually took religious dimension, where the Christian Sayawa and Muslim Hausa Fulani took up arms against each other in some of the most violent clashes ever witnessed in the state and the country.

The state governor, Isa Yuguda recently accented to the law by the State Assembly, which created the Sayawa Chiefdom, which the Sayawa had agitated for decades in a bid to bring lasting peace.
But the citing of the temporary headquater at Bogoro and subsequently moving it permanently to Marti Giji and not Tafawa Balewa as demanded by the Sayawa has further made the peace elusive.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/nov/16/national-16-11-2011-0010.html