In juxtaposing rural banditry and drug fusion in contemporary Nigeria
By Aliyu Kankara Ibrahim The political era (2016-2021) had been stacking eventfully, with myriad, uncountable number of deadly attacks by bandits on near and remote, poor innocent communities of north-western and north central Nigeria. These rising cases of crimes are worrisome and still mutating in all ramifications. Then, in x-raying the idiosyncrasies of Hausa-Fulani crime-related […]
By Aliyu Kankara Ibrahim
The political era (2016-2021) had been stacking eventfully, with myriad, uncountable number of deadly attacks by bandits on near and remote, poor innocent communities of north-western and north central Nigeria. These rising cases of crimes are worrisome and still mutating in all ramifications.
Then, in x-raying the idiosyncrasies of Hausa-Fulani crime-related contemporary society, and to stand firmly to bring the rigmarole polity to its lowest ebb, we must identify how and why the bandits penetrate those poor communities, perform devilish crimes with strong force. Intellectuality has it that the bandits are fed with hard drugs that make them go out of their senses, while in the acts.
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We then cite the example of one of the surprise deadly attacks on a village by the name Kadisau in Sabua Local Government Area in Katsina State. They entered the village by exactly 4 pm and started spraying bullets at everybody sporadically, in an uncontrolled manner, killing many people, men, and women, including kids. Those heartless criminals did so for many hours, and nobody among any security operatives came to their rescue. They also abducted many innocent people and went away unchased.
This captured attention of many media, including social media around the globe. After a few days to come, security was sent to guard the village. During their stay, they caught some criminals suspected to have hands in the attack. When interviewed, they lamented that they are foreigners and were invited by other indigenous criminals to assist them to combine forces in carrying out the attacks. They made mention of hard drugs that were smuggled and fed to the bandits shortly before they ambushed the village. Those hard drugs, according to the criminals make the go out of control, make them stronger, and can face anybody in a fight.
To make this allegation viable, and realistic, one of the abductors of Kankara Science Secondary School got an injury and was profusely bleeding when they were foot-trekking with the students. When one of the students called his attention to look over, the criminal replied to the boy that he was aware of that and went further telling the kid that they took hard drugs that make them go out of their senses and never feel hurt if they are injured.
‘You can only feel hurt when the drug’s action stops in your body, the criminal replied to the boy.
In another related ungodly attitude, bandits in one of the villages in Katsina State gathered women at one point and raped them. They also forced other men in the village to do the same and wound the aged women in their private parts. This also took hours without the emergence of security officers.
During that, one of the women noticed one of the bandits standing in a corner, weeping and regretting, which showed his dismay. She then asked him to stop them. He replied to her that they were not in their senses, as they took hard drugs, characterizing total madness in them, until when the drugs stop action.
Similarly, many abducted and released people were interviewed on the incidences of drugs by bandits. They reply that when in captivity, the bandits may be in sober, insane condition. But when they are about to go out for an operation, they take drugs which eventually turns them into animalistic, by making useless abuses, triggering guns, and playing with motorcycles.
One can often hear the criminals’ voice over a phone conversation between them and their colleagues, that they are about to go out for an operation, but drugs and other traditional herbs need to be supplied to them for energizing their bodies to perform more action than normal. Even the pardonable criminals made mention of this, as a catalyst towards an extra performance.
Traditional charmers assist the criminals too with charms to gain success in their operations.
If consumed, to the latitude of the jurisdiction they often fight themselves before going out, to testify to the strongness of the drugs. Such drugs are supplied to them by armed robbers mostly from the eastern part of the country. At arrival, they know the channels they can pass and deliver the drugs to the bandits at their locations.
As a tandem of good communication, In the next edition, the different types of drugs used by the bandits and their effect on the body when taken shall be brought.
Aliyu Kankara Ibrahim wrote from Katsina