How we are living with threats of bandits – FCT, Niger communities

Daily Trust visited some communities in Kagarko Local Government Area in Kaduna State where bandits have sacked the people, taken over their farmlands and converted them into part of their operational bases. The villages, sacked from Gaudna and Mutum-1, located in remote locations off the Bwari-Jere SSC Road, are some of the affected areas, whose […]

Daily Trust visited some communities in Kagarko Local Government Area in Kaduna State where bandits have sacked the people, taken over their farmlands and converted them into part of their operational bases.

The villages, sacked from Gaudna and Mutum-1, located in remote locations off the Bwari-Jere SSC Road, are some of the affected areas, whose communities are now taking refuge in the nearby Begye and Ngami villages in the axis.  

In an interview with Daily Trust, residents of the affected communities said the bandits have made life frightening in the area, ever since they directed them to vacate their ancestral homes. They are now living in a new location in Begye community, still not far away from the bandits. The gunmen had penultimate Friday night, dragged four of their victims abducted from two of the FCT communities and executed them near Iddah junction, along the highway.  

Daily Trust’s visit coincided with the day the sacked community of Gaudna buried their chief who died two days earlier, while in exile along with his subjects. Jerimiah Dikko, one of the residents, who has taken refuge from his community, said the chief’s health condition started deteriorating after they were forced by bandits to leave their community.  

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“Ahead of that, the bandits had gone into our houses and looted items like mattresses, power generators, and shoes, and vandalized household items like television sets. They directed us to leave the community and that they would only allow us back after providing N10 million to them, warning that they would kill anyone they saw in the village,” Dikko lamented.  

Another refugee, Boniface Dantani, said the kidnappers used to pass through the community along with their captured victims, mostly from the neighbouring FCT or Niger State, on their way back to their hideouts.   

“Just a few days ago, I noticed them returning from one of their operations around 5am, leading their victims toward their camps just across the nearby mountain. If you stay here for some minutes, you will see them mingling around, wearing overall coats, with their guns concealed inside.  

“Some of our farmlands are located just across this mountain, yet we could no longer go there, ever since they have directed us to vacate. At times they would climb over the mountain and shoot their guns into the air, which is to make us scared. 

“We noticed similar gunshots around 9pm recently, before we later saw the lifeless bodies of their victims, dumped by a passage that led to the main road.”  

Also speaking, the leader of youth in the community that hosts the sacked villagers, Judge Shariya Bube, lamented that their guests have become a burden to them, as they have to provide them with food and shelter, without any assistance from government.   

Ngami is the main village in the area close to Bwari town, which is also hosting some refugees from the two communities, as well as others in the axis.  

The village head of the community, Michael Musa Dizau, listed two communities of Tei-Mpape and Jidna, in addition to those of Gaudna and Mutum-1 that are taking refuge in his village. 

The chief stated that some of the affected people later relocated to Bwari town in the FCT, and Iddah in Kaduna where they are now in rented accommodation along with their family members. 

He recounted how the ward head of Begye recently called him over the phone to inform him about the four abducted people killed by their captors and dumped around his area.   

“He solicited my assistance to pass the information to our traditional leader, the Chief of Dnata chiefdom. The emir responded immediately, by getting the police from Tafa Division to come and convey the corpses. 

The police took the remains of the victims to their office, which is the nearest police division from this area within Kaduna State, and thereafter took them to the general hospital in Sabon-Wuse along the Abuja-Kaduna expressway, the chief added.  

Dizau said the insecurity problem which started in the area in September last year, had so far claimed no fewer than 10 lives in the axis, with bandits seizing properties like motorcycles from the villagers while directing some communities to vacate from their farmlands and villages.   

“They accused the villagers of reporting them to the authorities,” the chief said.   

Also speaking, the youth leader of Ngami, Yohanna Yarima, noted that their proximity to areas converted as camps by the bandits has made life miserable as the gunmen raid the areas continuously and loot items from shops.   

“A number of shop owners who are mostly non-indigenes no longer pass their night here. They close their shops by 6pm to leave for Bwari town to return in the morning,” Yarima said.   

He added that the bandits usually looted valuables as they passed through the community with their abducted victims on their way back to their camps, usually late at night or the early hours of the morning.  

He said their attempt to get the police deployed to the area who could complement the efforts of the local security vigilante was not successful.   

“One of the residents has donated a building to serve as a police outpost and we, as a community, wrote to the police in the FCT command, requesting for the deployment of personnel to the community. But the reply we got after a series of follow-ups was that, our area did not deserve to get an outpost.   

“The development was coming at a time, when a single person would be moving with a convoy of about 10 security vans along this Bwari-Jere road, just to provide him with security cover,’’ the youth leader said.