How robbers seized Zamfara villages deserted by police

For the people of Dangulbi, Guru, Biya, Sabuwar Kasuwa and Gobirawa villages of Dansadau district of Maru local government area, their experiences of Monday, June 11 is one they all pray not to have again. On that fateful day, gangs of armed robbers, numbering about 200 riding on motorcycles and carrying sophisticated weapons, invaded their […]

For the people of Dangulbi, Guru, Biya, Sabuwar Kasuwa and Gobirawa villages of Dansadau district of Maru local government area, their experiences of Monday, June 11 is one they all pray not to have again. On that fateful day, gangs of armed robbers, numbering about 200 riding on motorcycles and carrying sophisticated weapons, invaded their villages and killed over 22 people, including a policeman who later died from the gunshot  injuries he sustained. He died at the Federal Medical Center, Gusau where he was admitted.

The armed men attacked innocent people in the day and nights, killing men, women and children and dispossessing them of their cash and other valuables. Such operations that last for several hours are usually carried out after the armed robbers have given notices to the communities that they should source for and keep money for them.

Members of the communities who said they usually communicate such notices to the police on the planned attacks on their communities by the armed robbers added that the robbers have never failed to attack as contained in their notices. The villagers said such attacks are never challenged as police never responded to any distress call from the communities.

Shortly after the attack on the villages, Governor Abdul-Azeez Yari, his deputy and other top officials of the state government visited Dangulbi where the attack was more severe and most of the people who died as a result of the attack where killed. The governor was faced by complaints of insecurity and inaction by the police.

The victims of the attacks told the governor that for the several hours the attack lasted, there was no re-enforcement from the police command in Gusau the state capital or from any nearby police formation to assist the less than ten armless policemen manning the local police station in the area. They told the governor that several people were attacked; money, livestock, farm produce and other valuable items were carted away by the attackers.

The community leaders who received the governor told him that three of the policemen in the area were shot. One was said to have died instantly, another died at the Federal Medical Center, Gusau while another is still on admission. The governor later visited the hospital where a woman told the governor that an infant, who lost his father shortly after he was born, had the mother killed by the invading armed robbers.

“When the attackers came to our village, his mother was carrying the child and shouting for help. The armed robbers asked her to shut up her mouth but she refused, they hit her hard but she still refused to keep quite. It was at that stage that they shot her with a gun. The bullet pears through her and injured the boy. He is being admitted here as an orphan. The father died a natural death while the mother died during yesterday’s attack,” the volunteer told the governor.

Governor Yari said the state government would pay all the medical bills of the affected persons and that those whose cases will be better treated at hospitals outside the state should be immediately transferred and treated at the state government expense. Eeight victims of the attack were admitted at the hospital.

The caretaker chairman of Maru local government, Alhaji Lawal Bawa told Weekly Trust in his office that the infant has been handed over to the state Ministry of Women Affairs while two of the victims on admission at the hospital had been transferred to some hospitals in Kano and Kaduna States respectively for proper medical attention on the instruction of the state governor.

Though police presence was noticed around the attacked villages when the state governor and other state officials visited for the burial of those killed during the attack, the policemen suddenly disappeared shortly after the governor departed the place as no policeman was seen anywhere near the area the next day when Weekly Trust visited the area.

Malam Bello Abubakar Dan Galadiman Gobirawa Chali and ward head of Gobirawa told Weekly Trust that a day after the state police command announced that it has posted its men to the affected area, he saw some policeman in the area who told him that they were only there to survey the area and return back to Gusau. He said shortly after, the policemen who were in three trucks returned to the state capital.

“The attackers are armed robbers. They came, robbed my people and took away their money and collected gold from some people. We have gold here. They did not kill anybody here may be because we do not have the local vigilante who operate here. This town is 53 years old now. We have not witnessed anything like this before. They inflicted machete cuts on Baidu, Yahaya, Barau and Babangida. They also carted away over 40 cows from here,” he said.

So many people have since left the attacked towns and villages because the attackers warned that they would return and attack them again.

Malam Ibrahim Gobira was seen along a bush path with his motorcycle carrying a television set and a machete cut on his left wrist. He told Weekly Trust that he was relocating from Gobirawa that was attacked two nights ago to Magami town that has not been attacked yet.

“Some strangers who migrated to this area are causing problem for us by threatening our peace. Once you own property worth N100,000, you will not be at peace. They came and attacked our village, Gobirawa and wounded people early on Monday. They threatened to return, but we thought it was a mere threat. Just yesterday they returned and I was among those they attacked. They demanded for money and I gave them all I had, but still one of them hit me with his machete on my hand. They again threatened to call back, that is why I had to relocate,” he said.

Abdullahi Kakale who relocated to Gobirawa said he has to relocate because Gobirawa was attacked thrice between Monday, June 11 to Thursday, June 14 without any assistance from the security agencies, adding, “they first came, harassed us, beat us up and carted away our property and cash the same day they attacked Dangulbi and killed over 20 people. When they were leaving, they said they were coming back and they returned that same Monday afternoon. They were there again on Wednesday, still unchallenged as the police refused to show up despite repeated complaints.

“They are aware that we locally mine gold and may be they think we have money. When they attacked Dangulbi, the people of Dangulbi regrouped and promised to defend themselves since the police refused to act. I am sure it will not be good. I had to immediately evacuate my remaining things and my family and leave that place,” he said.

Abdullahi Aliyu who also migrated from Dangulbi to Magami said he is worried because they have no means of defending themselves if the attackers trail them to Magami, adding, “we have reported the insecurity situation of this area to the police time without number, but no action has been taken. This area is not secured and I am sure the armed robbers will trail us here,” he said.

But Abubakar Mohammed Gobirawa refused to relocate from there and told Weekly Trust that he has nowhere to go because he knows nowhere, adding, “they came in the middle of the night and asked me to give them money and I gave them. Two of them wanted to cut me with machete, but their leader asked them to leave me and they left me. For over ten years we have been experiencing cases of armed robbery attacks here.

“A few years ago, the local vigilante at Dangulbi sensitized the area by eliminating all those with records of armed robbery or theft. Majority of them were publicly executed while some were arrested and taken away by the police. I think they should be in prison. There was peace then for a while before those of them who escaped being executed by the vigilante regrouped and are now back on a vengeance mission. The attack on Dangulbi was massive, because that seems to be a concentration area for vigilante activities. It seems the attackers are more concerned about vigilante,” he said.

A reliable police source in the state command confirmed the fears raised by the Gobirawas that the attacks may be reprisal to the massive killing of suspected armed robbers and thieves by the vigilante group. The source said it was not sure if the public execution of people with known records of armed robberies and theft was backed by the immediate past administration in the state and the police authority in the state, “but certainly, nothing was done to stop it.”

The source said  “some of those who were publicly executed either at market square or in their own houses before their wives and children actually had cases of armed robberies, cattle theft or stealing, but they were never prosecuted. They were dragged before the public and the leader of the vigilante will just ask, ‘Do you all know him as a thief?’ the crowd will say, ‘yes!’ the next thing is to use cutlass to kill him or use knife to slaughter him like ram.

“You know very well that the law everywhere in Nigeria is that the vigilante must be working together with the police. So, policemen were witnesses to most of these things, but I do not know if there was directive from the state command that such execution by the vigilante should be condoned by our men working with them then. I was aware that a woman was killed publicly in that area on the allegation that she stole gold from their neighbors. I also know of a man who was slaughtered before his wife and children on the allegation that he stole cows. I actually witnessed these two cases,” the source said.

The secretary of vigilante group in Maru local government area, Malam Salisu Jae Maru said Maru local government with its very large landmarks has more armed robbery-related cases than any other local government area in the state, adding that that must be the reason why most of the attacks in the state take place in the local government area.

“It is true that in the past so many armed robbery suspects were killed in this part of the state. Then we had no organized vigilante group like the one we have now. Then it was just a voluntary group where people were doing whatever they like. But now we work with the police. Any arrest made by us is handed over to the police. But the police are not always around. As I am talking to you now, you cannot find the police anywhere at the crisis scene,” he said.

But the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. A. O. Gwary insists that he has posted policemen to all the areas where   the attacks took place. He said the police in the state are on top of the situation. He admitted that the policemen earlier stationed in the affected villages were not armed, but said armed policemen had since been drafted to the area.

The state Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Ibrahim Birnin-Magaji who described the situation in the state as terrible, said the state government has done everything within its powers to ensure that the police and other security agencies are assisted to be able to discharge their statutory duties of maintaining law and order.

He said under the present administration, the police were given over 80 brand new vehicles, fund, as well as the renovation of their offices to make them more effective. He said other security formations like the Immigration, Civil Defence and the army were all assisted with patrol vehicles. He said though the police in the state are doing their best, there is the need to do more.