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cutlasses, and sticks, and they came with gallons of petrol. We had locally made
guns. They saw us with weapons and they went after us. In my own presence my
kinsmen were killed. Mato had an 8-round gun. When he finished shooting and
tried to reload, someone came from behind and “dropped” him down. Another man
came with an axe and hit him on the neck. Others then came and took their turn to
cut at him. Dangwate saw this and shot at the mob. The mob then pursued him.
They followed him to the back of a house and used their sticks to smash his legs
and brought him down. They then cut him with their machetes.
When we saw they overpowered us, we had to draw back. Some of us started to run.
They then went into the houses, ransacked the houses, looted the property, and
then set the houses on fire. They also set one of the churches ablaze. None of the
Muslim houses were touched. Only the Christian houses were burned. The group
then dispersed. 338
Christian leaders and witnesses in the three villages told Human Rights Watch that they reported
the attacks to the police, but there have been no arrests. 339
Sectarian Violence in Central Kaduna State
Violence in the City of Kaduna
In the city of Kaduna, protests also turned violent on the morning of April 18. Clashes between
Muslim and Christian youth soon broke out, and mobs on both sides of the religious divide
burned and looted property. Christians and Muslims who found themselves on the wrong side of
Kaduna River or in neighborhoods where they were the religious minority were bludgeoned to
death by marauding mobs. According to media reports, Christian travelers were dragged out of
their vehicles by groups of Muslims and killed on the main road leading north of the city. Mobs
of Christians also torched vehicles and killed Muslim motorists on the expressway leading
through Gonin Gora and other predominantly Christian neighborhoods in the southern side of
the city. 340
338 Human Rights Watch interview with a resident of Ungwar Tuji, November 20, 2011.
339 Human Rights Watch interviews with residents in Ungwar Tuji, Ungwar Kerau, and Unwar Dawa villages, Soba local government area,
November 20, 2011.
340 See, for example, “Post Election Riots in Kaduna, Bauchi, Yobe, Niger,” Vanguard (Lagos), April 19, 2011; Njuwa Maina and Joe
Bavier, “Relatives search for bodies after Nigeria riots,” Reuters, April 20, 2011.
95 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2013