• Sultan, el-Rufai chart peace course
• CAN charges Buhari to stop killings
Armed bandits yesterday killed one person and abducted final year students of a Junior Secondary School in Damba-Kasaya community, Chikun Council Area of Kaduna State and other villagers.

The gunmen were said to have arrived the community yesterday about 8a.m. on motorcycles.

The abducted students were reportedly receiving lessons, preparatory to their final exams.

Bawa Wakili, a resident of the community, said the bandits shot sporadically and destroyed musical and public address system worth thousands of naira in Aminchi Baptist Church, in the community.

Lamenting the security situation in Kaduna rural communities, Wakili said he relocated to Damba-Kasaya a couple of months ago after herdsmen sacked his village, Rumana Gbagyi also in Chikun.

Attempts to reach the Kaduna police spokesman, Mohammed Jalige, on telephone were futile.
MEANWHILE, less than 24 hours after the deposed Emir of Kano, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi, visited the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, the latter yesterday met behind closed doors with Governor Nasir el-Rufai in Kaduna.

The Kaduna governor said the visit was to discuss peace in the state.

The Sultan, who arrived around 12.20p.m., was received by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Balarabe Abbas; Chief of Staff, Muhammad Dattijo; Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan; and Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Jafaru Ibrahim.

“He came on a private visit to advise guide me and express support for our efforts at bringing peace to Kaduna. He is happy that many people have come, all talking about peace and felt he should not be left out, particularly in the light of our historical relationship not only as Barewa old boys but as my elder brother,” el-Rufai said.

He added that his concern always was to see how people could live in peace in the state.

However, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Oyo State chapter, and Concerned Christian Citizens havecalled on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the killing of Christians in Kaduna before the situation gets out of hand.

The group led by the chairman, Joshua Akinyemiju, prayed for God’s intervention in the unchecked violence by suspected Fulani herdsmen in southern Kaduna.

Speaking after the prayer meeting, one of the conveners, Mrs. Foluso Makanjuola-Oyenuga, urged Buhari to help the people, especially the Christians in southern Kaduna, to stop the violence that led to multiple deaths in the area.

The Pastor of Emmanuel The Saint Sabba Evangelical Mission, Gekuba, Apata, Ibadan, Bishop Daniel Oluwajimade, said Christians all over the world were not happy with what was happening in southern Kaduna. “That is why we are calling on God to help us end the ugly trend.

“What we did here today was needful because if such thing is not done, people wouldn’t know that we are not happy.”

Coordinator of the project, Olubunmi Sodipo, said that the Concerned Christian Citizens to create awareness on the plight of southern Kaduna people, so the government would do the needful.