Niger State’s cattle-rustling headache worsens

From the thick forest stretching from Niger State through neighbouring Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi states and even into Benin Republic, bandits rob communities. In most cases they leave behind a trail of death and destruction. Daily Trust reports. Cattle-rustling has now reduced armed robbery to second place in Niger State. Available statistics show a trebling […]

From the thick forest stretching from Niger State through neighbouring Kaduna, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi states and even into Benin Republic, bandits rob communities. In most cases they leave behind a trail of death and destruction. Daily Trust reports.

Cattle-rustling has now reduced armed robbery to second place in Niger State. Available statistics show a trebling of cattle-rustling incidents, dwarfing other forms of armed robbery cases, as presented by the state’s police command. Between January and August 2015, such cases were said to have been reported at various police and military locations across the state with alarming number of spoils carted away into the thick forest which the rustlers inhabit and constantly launch attacks from. 
From the Niger axis, the forests are prominent around Bangi, Kagara, Mashegu, Lapai, New-Bussa, Kontagora, Sarkin-Pawa, Kaffin-Koro and Gurara where the bandits plan and attack, and also escape. Our correspondent also learnt that the rustlers raid designated settlements and farms as well as intercept nomadic herds in transit. “They always prefer nomadic herds transiting from one location to another looking for greener pastures because of the large number of cattle that would be moved,” ASP Bala Elkana, the state Police Public Relations Officer explained. He added that the rustlers prefer to target those, as it would be difficult for them to immediately report to law enforcement agencies. “By the time they could do so, probably days later, the rustlers would have gotten to their destinations,” he noted. 
Statistics indicate that Niger comes second only to Zamfara State in the number of cattle-rustling cases. Within a space of eight months, figures from the state office of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association indicated that more than 4,000 cattle were rustled. The number did not include sheep and other domestic animals which went missing.
Police figure put the number of cattle recovered at 1,048, while the number of sheep and goats is 135 in 16 reported cases. Statistics indicated that Bangi in Mariga local government area of the state is more notorious with five cases within the period.
More than 200 cattle with almost an equal number of sheep as well as goats were rustled but later recovered through an operation by the police. It was gathered that in a single raid, for example, in Iwa village in Gawu Babangida, Gurara local government area on July 7, rustlers got away with 250 cattle. Help however, came in the way of the herders following the prompt report to the Bangi Division. The police said it mobilised its men and local vigilantes and some herders who volunteered to join the operation and traced the fleeing rustlers. “It was a major operation. There was exchange of fire from both sides but the casualty was on their side as one of them was fatally wounded, while all the cattle were recovered and returned to the owners,” Elkana said.
Records show that in January alone, 60 cattle were recovered in two cases in Bangi and Ringa. In the Bangi incident luck ran out on Usman Shagari, Namandala Roko and Suleiman Idris, who were traced to their location after a rustling operation in far away Katsina State, where they robbed some herders in Dandume local government area. 26 cattle and six sheep were recovered from them. Some weapons were also recovered from them.
Luck also ran out on others at Ringa area, when they were spotted by a police patrol team on January 6 with 34 stolen cattle, which they abandoned on spotting the threat. Records showed that the number of cattle rustled and recovered was low in February with 15 in a single incident. The figure rose to 100 in an operation in March even as two incidents in April put the number of recovery to 199.
Daily Trust learnt rustlers wield dangerous weapons to force herders into submission. Police reported 13 rifles, including 7 AK-47s and ammunition were recovered from rustlers in various operations.
Worried by the rising crime rate and criminal activities around the forests, the state governor, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello and his counterparts in the northwest states of Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto and Kaduna evolved a holistic approach to checking the situation. In their maiden meeting in June, which also included security bosses from the affected states, a joint operation was initiated to tackle rustling through constant raiding of the forests. The affected governors, Daily Trust learnt, also met last Saturday to review strategy and take steps to mitigate a spillover following the attacks on the forests by security operatives. Sources say the joint operation is yielding positive results.
However, the Miyetti Allah association, while hailing the security agencies for rising to the occasion, said a lot remains to be done to stop rustlers. The national vice chairman 1 of the body, Malam Hussaini Bosso, urged the federal and Niger state government to put in place mechanisms that would discourage the movement of herders from one state to another as a measure that would halt the menace. “If they rustle cattle from, say, Zamfara State, they will follow the route up East to go and sell at a giveaway prices,” he said.
Bosso urged the state government to intensify the joint security operation like their Kaduna State counterpart has.“To stop them from migrating, the state government needs to call the meeting of Fulani heads in the wards, local governments and the leadership of Miyetti Allah with a view to pressurizing them to find a way of stopping any herders who settle in their areas for at least two years and the cases of rustling will naturally stop,” he advised.
Besides, he said, butchers sometimes unwittingly or knowingly aid rustlers. “Some of the butchers go into the bushes to buy the rustled cattle and slaughter them there before conveying the meat to the market.
“Also, some of the butchers even move cattle using authentic revenue papers they buy from officers in cattle markets and anywhere the police stop them, they wave those receipts and get cleared to pass,” Bosso explained.
On its part, he said the association can only enlighten and advice the headers on the need to be security-conscious and report suspicious persons within their areas to the appropriate authority. But, even with these measures, can cattle rustling stop in the nearest future?