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The man said he later went back to the town, with police and soldiers, to find his house and
everything he owned “burned to ashes.” 389
A Hausa-Fulani woman from Matsirga told Human Rights Watch that Bajju Christian men killed her
husband and a neighbor on the morning of April 19, about 8 a.m. She described what she saw:
After they destroyed the village they gathered the women and children around a
road leading [out of Matsirga]. The Bajju said let us take some mangos before we
reach some Fulani houses in the bush. They didn’t know that my husband and
Suleiman were hiding in the mango tree. One of them [the Bajju men] saw people in
the tree and shouted to the others to see the other Hausa people.
One of them shot Suleiman in the tree and he fell down. My husband dropped
down from the tree and tried to escape. The mob caught him and hit him with
cutlasses and axes and killed him. They also cut Suleiman and killed him. They
were killed in my presence. I was not far away. I know who killed them. I recognized
some of them in the group. We all lived together with them in the village. 390
Attack on Muslims in Gidan Maga
Violence erupted on the morning of April 19 in Gidan Maga, a small town located in Zangon Kataf
local government area. The town’s population is predominately from the Anghan ethnic group
(also known as Kamatan). The Anghan are both Christians and Muslim and are recognized as
indigenes of Gidan Maga. The surrounding communities are predominately Bajju. At the time of
the violence, the district head—the traditional leader—in Gidan Maga was an Anghan Muslim by
the name of Ahmed Bako. 391
A teacher, who was in Gidan Maga on the day of the attack, recalled that Bajju men from several
neighboring communities, armed with guns, machetes, bows and arrows, and axes, surrounded
Gidan Maga that morning. The armed men then attacked the town, burning property and killing
Muslim residents. The teacher, who hid in a goat pen during the attack, said he saw groups of
389 Human Rights Watch interview with a civil servant from Matsirga, Kafanchan, May 2, 2011.
390 Human Rights Watch interview with a Matsirga resident, Kafanchan, November 19, 2011.
391 See “A Memo Submitted to Federal Government Panel of Investigation of April, 2011 Election Violence in respect of Kamuru-Ikulu
(Ikulu Chiefdom) and Gidan Maga (Anghan Chiefdom) all in Zangon Kataf Local Government Kaduna State, by Nkulu/Anghan Muslim
Youth Forum” (“Gidan Maga Memorandum”). Copy on file with Human Rights Watch.
107 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | DECEMBER 2013