Sacked from FCT, IDPs pick up pieces in Nasarawa

Many families dislodged by banditry in some states in the North-West and North-East and thereafter expelled from Abuja where they were taking refuge are now struggling for survival in parts of Nasarawa State, close to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Checks by our reporter revealed that the internally displaced persons (IDPs) came from parts of […]

Many families dislodged by banditry in some states in the North-West and North-East and thereafter expelled from Abuja where they were taking refuge are now struggling for survival in parts of Nasarawa State, close to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Checks by our reporter revealed that the internally displaced persons (IDPs) came from parts of Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi and Sokoto states in the North- West, and Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in the North-East.

They are now mostly engaged in begging and menial jobs to make ends meet.

Some of the beggars interviewed revealed that they came from rural areas severely affected by the insecurity ravaging the two regions.

• Katsina hospital attack: Bandits demand N540m ransom on nurse, others
• Zungur: Home of foremost nationalist suffers neglect

They said while in the localities during peace time, they were living a dignified life, tending to their farms and animals, but after years of attacks, they all became paupers, widows and orphans.

And considering that there are no government recognised IDP camps in some of the states in the North-West, the victims of the banditry said they were left with no option but to relocate to safer locations, such as Abuja.

But many of them who found respite in Abuja soon started facing new challenges following the decision of the FCT Administration to clamp down on them.

Recall that the minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, had in October 2024 ordered beggars in Abuja to leave the city or be arrested. The minister decried their influx, saying criminal elements were disguising as beggars, making the job of providing security difficult.

He said the evacuation was part of the administration’s strategy to restore Abuja’s image and ensure that the city competes favourably with other major cities worldwide.

Although the IDPs resisted the moves to sack them, noting that begging to live wasn’t a life they chose for themselves, the FCT authorities, however, went on with the clean-up exercise.

The operation, conducted by a joint task force comprising the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the military, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and other paramilitary agencies, at the onset targeted four major areas: the City Centre, the Airport Road, the Kubwa-Gwarinpa area, and the Asokoro-Nyanya-Karu corridor.

It was later extended to other locations.

The FCT Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, described the clampdown as a “national assignment,” directing officers to enforce the mandate with professionalism and resolve.

Weekend Trust reports that after the operation that flushed them out of the FCT, the displaced persons thereafter relocated to suburbs in Nasarawa State, which are close to Abuja rather than return to their states.

Even then some of them sneak into Abuja and beg during the day and move back to the suburbs towards the evening. However, it has remained a cat and mouse relationship for them as law enforcement agents trail them around the Central Business District, Wuse Market, Berger roundabout, Utako, Jabi, among other locations in the nation’s capital.

A senior member of the task force who craved anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press, said over 300 beggars and other destitute were removed from Abuja streets during the recent exercise.

He said some of them were taken to the FCT Rehabilitation Centre at Kuzhako in Bwari Area Council of the FCT, while some were moved to their states of origin.

On why the beggars are finding their ways back to the city few weeks after the exercise, the officer said some of them found their ways to settlements near the FCT; and some of them are now coming to Abuja during the day and returning at night.

“What happened was that some of them ran to places like Mararaba in Nasarawa State, which is close to the FCT. They come to Abuja to beg during the day and return in the night. It is not that the exercise has failed. It is continuing; we are going to still clamp down on them,” he said.

 

Many IDPs from Katsina

Weekend Trust reports that most of the IDPs are from communities ravaged by insurgency and banditry, where millions of people have been displaced from their homes over time.

From Katsina State for instance, the IDPs are from localities in Faskari, Malumfashi, Bakori, among other LGAs.

The beggars, who are mostly women and children, explained that they were driven to this desperate way of life due to the mounting violence perpetrated by gunmen, commonly referred to as bandits.

The insecurity has not only disrupted their livelihoods but also claimed the lives of their husbands and fathers, leaving many of them without any means of support.

Those who spoke to our correspondent at Mararaba said that the increased pressure from the authorities in the FCT targeting beggars and the destitute forced them to seek refuge in satellite towns in Nasarawa State.

For now, towns like Keffi, Mararaba, Karu, Uke and Ado have become their new homes. 

 

Harrowing experiences

During a visit to some of their “sanctuaries”, it was observed that the current status of the IDPs made life increasingly difficult for them.

While some residents view them as nuisance in some of the areas, law enforcement agents always chase them from one area to another.

While some of them have found refuge in the IDP camps set up by the federal government, others sleep around pedestrian bridges, markets and malls.

 

My husband, daughter set ablaze by bandits

A woman who gave her name as Yaha, recounted how bandits gunned down her husband alongside their daughter.

The widow, who is still struggling to move on with her life, barely talks when asked some questions.

“I don’t want to remember that ugly day…I don’t want to share the story with anybody. Even though it is something I will never forget, I hope no one should pass through similar trauma,” she said.

Asked to explain how her loved ones were killed, she said, “Just pray for us, we are also human beings and we want a dignified life. This is not how we want to live,” she said.

 

‘Bandits killed my husband’

Baba Asabe, a mother of three who lost her husband to bandits’ attack in Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State, said life has not been the same since then.

She said her eldest son, 20, was abducted twice and the family had to raise ransom to secure his release from his abductors.

Baba Asabe said she had to move away from her community to a safe place as the incursions by bandits persisted. 

She said considering that there was no IDP camp in Katsina town or Bakori Local Government Area, she was advised to migrate to Abuja. She now begs for alms to feed.

“But I limit my movement to Maraba axis, having been arrested twice. I don’t want to be arrested again.”

According to her, “During my first arrest in Abuja, I paid N10,000 before I was released; I also paid N13,000 to secure my freedom when I was arrested for the second time. Now, I beg here in Mararaba.

“We get barely enough to feed ourselves and buy some essential items, such as bathing and washing soaps. There are times you get between N2,000 and N2,500, but sometimes you hardly get up to N1,500. We go out as early as 7am and return by sunset. I feel safe here.

“Back home, gunshots are becoming a daily affair. As you are seated, bandits will just invade the place and abduct people,” she said.

Asabe said she is always praying for peace to be restored so that she could go back home.

“I am from Kakumi. There was a time I visited home but was forced to return to Abuja after spending only a day. Bandits invaded the community and unleashed terror,” she said. 

Habi Garba, 60, also shared a similar experience: “I am from Kakumi in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State. I have children who are there in Katsina. I left my hometown about three months ago. One of my grown up children lost his wife, leaving my grandchildren behind.

“I am the only one here begging to have what to eat and survive. Anytime bandits invade our communities, we leave and come here. They killed about five people the day we left. They are making it hard for us to be there. They have carted away our belongings, including money and animals.

“They have banned people from farming. Haven’t you heard that the price of sorghum has increased? Hunger is having a heavy toll on people. Life is unbearable and many lives have been lost.

“We didn’t know begging until now. I have children; some of whom are married. I am into this begging because there is no option. I am not happy with it. I want to quit, I am tired. I want to go back and live in my village but the bandits are wreaking havoc there, making our communities inaccessible,” she said.

“I no longer go to Abuja to beg anymore because of the fear of being arrested. We beg here. There are guards who provide security for us, especially during the night. They are always alert and vigilant,” she said.

Like Habi Garba, Halima Hamza also fled to Abuja in order to beg to support her family and raise some money for the wedding of her 18-year-old daughter who currently stays with her at Mararaba.

“I am from Ranka. I have eight children but two have died. Initially I left them at home but when the bandits continued to make incursion into our community and unleashed terror, I went back and brought the two youngest here. I enrolled one into a Qur’anic school that operates at night. One of my children is in Lagos and the married ones are there in Katsina.

“There was a time the bandits abducted about 37 people and N25 million ransom was paid to secure their release after spending about five months in captivity at the forest,” she said.

She said before the unfortunate banditry that forced them out of their homes, she was into petty business. 

“The business collapsed and I owe as much as N250,000. That is why I am here. I am still paying the debt. I have about N15,000 to settle it all. I will go back home as soon as I raise some money to settle the debt and buy the basic things for the wedding of my daughter. We learnt that peace is gradually returning to the state. I will also get the children back to school,” she added.

While Hassana Amiru begs for alms from people, her children, who stay with her at Mararaba, hawk sachet water, biscuits and other items.  

“I am from the Mashi axis in Katsina State. I have children who are there. The eldest is 15 years and the other, 10. I am the eldest of the women here, so I am like their leader. We pass the nights under this Mararaba Bridge.

“Shop owners here gave us shelter and allowed us spaces to use. There is a public toilet not far from here, that is where we go to when in need. 

“The women here are mostly from Batsari, Faskari and other conflict-troubled communities in Katsina and Zamfara states. 

“We visit home once in a while. Here, we go out begging from 10am and return late in the evening, around Maghrib. Once we get what to buy food with, we will thank God and return home. 

“My children are here with me. They are not attending schools, but they would be glad to be enrolled if they get the opportunity. I have married off some of my daughters,” she said.

Ahmad Salisu is a young man of 20 years, who, until his coming to Abuja, was into phone repairs in a village in Katsina before the insecurity persisted.

“I have been begging here at Mararaba for the past one year. I was going to Abuja from here to beg in some districts such as Maitama, but I was once arrested and I spent two days in custody, with no food and other challenges.

“Being in custody was a nasty experience because after I was released, I had to treat malaria. It was my colleagues here who helped and took me to the hospital where I was diagnosed with malaria and given medications and injections.They paid N20, 000 to secure my release.

“I attended primary and secondary schools. I have my certificates at home. I, however, couldn’t further my education because of financial constraint,” he said. 

 

We support our IDPs – Katsina govt

Weekend Trust gathered that there are no official IDP camps in Katsina State.

In his reaction to the plight of some citizens of the state who struggling for survival between the FCT and Nasarawa State, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Dikko Umar Radda on Victims of Banditry and IDPs, Alhaji Saidu Ibrahim Danja, said the government was up and doing as far as the welfare of IDPs was concerned.

He, however, said the government did not provide IDP camps because of the basic requirements set up by the UNO (United Nations Organisation).

“The UN basic requirements for the establishment if an IDP camp is that you have to cater for the standard education of their children, standard healthcare delivery system, their basic needs including water, sanitation, feeding and other basic social amenities, safety and security.

“All these requirements have to be provided before you keep people in a camp, and all these requirements are also needed in all parts of the state, and the government is still fighting the menace.

“However, the state governor, in his wisdom, thought that instead of starting IDP camps, we rather have alternative means of accommodating our displaced persons while making efforts to address the problem itself.

“We have adopted two methods of accommodation, one of which is what we call hosting by relatives and the other known as neighbourhoods hosting.

“Under hosting by relatives, displaced persons will locate their relatives and squat with them, while the government in collaboration with traditional leaders document such families and support them together with their hosts.

“Under neighbourhoods, the displaced persons locate communities they consider safe and they will be hosted in different accommodations within such communities after which they will be documented and assisted, while government and security agencies are making efforts to liberate their communities for their safe return.

“All these methods have proven to be effective’” he said. 

“Now, on the issue of those who claimed to be from Katsina State in Abuja and other places, the government is not ruling out that possibility, but it is imperative to note that even here in Katsina, there are some people who were seen roaming the streets and claiming to be displaced by banditry, but when we made efforts to confirm their status, it turned out to be a false claim.

“However, we have different joined initiatives with development partners to provide for our IDPs. For instance, the UNDP is proving 152 housing units in Jibia, which has all those basic requirements. It will host 152 households, and all that is required, including skills acquisition. This is already under construction.

“There are other 360 housing units to be constructed in Danmusa, Dandume, Faskari and Batsari, a minimum of 85 each, under the Pulaku Initiative,” he added.

When asked if the Katsina will visit Mararaba where the indigents live, the SSA said there was no official communication with regards to their existence there.

He, however, said with the new development,  government will find a way of ascertaining the claims and do the needful in terms of necessary action.

 

‘I’m from Zamfara’

Salamatu Amiru, a mother of four said she came to Abuja from the Zurmi area of Zamfara State.

“We are victims of circumstances. Originally, we are not beggars; it is banditry that turned us to paupers.  My husband was killed and there is no one to help. We came to Abuja and were sleeping under the bridge until recently when they chased us away,” she said.

Hamra Aliyu, another widow who became a beggar, said she came to Abuja from Gummi Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

“We are living in a pitiful condition,” she lamented, sobbing, and called on the federal government to support the governors of the North-West in restoring peace.

“We have people here from Anka, Gusau, Birnin Magaji, Shinkafi and other local government areas in Zamfara. Most of us are widows. We sold our farmlands to pay ransom to bandits,” she said.

 

We don’t have their record – Zamfara govt

Reacting to the development, the Special Adviser to the Zamfara State governor on broadcast media, Alhaji Mustapha Jafaru Kaura, said the claim that Zamfara IDPs were travelling to mega cities to seek for help was just a hypothesis, as according to him, those who claimed to be from Zamfara have no identity and were not authenticated by the government.

Kaura explained that those claiming to be indigenes of the state did not tell the state government that they were travelling to other places to seek for help; hence, the government has no record to that effect.

He said, “Nobody has a proof that such people are from Zamfara State. For instance, if I claim to be from Kebbi State, who do you think would dispute it? This is because I don’t have any identity that differentiates me from the people of Kebbi State.

“The Zamfara State Government cannot stop anybody from moving to other places to seek assistance from people, but all I know is that the government is doing its best to take care of IDPs in the state.

“Although we don’t have recognised IDPs camps in the state, the government is doing its best in assisting displaced persons. I can vividly recall that the last assignment by Governor Dauda Lawal in 2024 was the distribution of relief materials to IDPs.

“He distributed foodstuff, blankets, clothing materials, mattresses and other household items to the IDPs. He also directed all the 23 local government chairmen to liaise with district heads and distribute the same items to IDPs in their localities.

“Honestly, the number of displaced persons is reducing by the day because the Community Protection Guards (CPG) and that of local vigilante groups are up and doing in protecting their localities.

“Even if the bandits sack a village today, tomorrow these personnel would mobilise and protect the village against further attack. So, occupants of villages and communities in the state have stopped leaving their communities because they are being protected by the personnel of the CPG and local vigilantes.

 “Most of the IDPs are returning to their communities. And the ongoing Operation Fansar Yamma by the Nigerian military has dislodged several bandits across the 23 local governments.”

Hauwa’u Aliyu, who said she relocated to Abuja from Sokoto State, said many of them were willing to go back home once peace returns.

“We are many from Isa, Rabah, Sabon Birni and other local government areas of Sokoto State. Some of the displaced men are doing achaba and the women are begging.

“Our prayer is that those in position of authority should fear God. They should tackle the bandits and restore sanity. We want to go back home,” she said.

 

We’re not aware of Sokoto IDPs in Abuja – Govt

The Sokoto State Government has said it is not aware of any internally displaced persons from the state in Abuja.

The executive secretary of the Sokoto State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Bashar Muhammad-Sokoto, noted that most of their IDPs were at officially designated camps across the state.

“Most of those people claiming to be IDPs are not truly IDPs. They are mostly beggars who went to Abuja to get support from donors who usually support IDPs. If you dig well you would find out that they are not IDPs.

“We have camps in Sabon Birni, Isa, Rabah, Goronyo, Wurno and some areas within the state’s metropolis,” he said

 

‘I live at Kuchigoro camp with my sickle cell child’

In the makeshift shelters of Kuchigoro IDP camp, located in the outskirts of Abuja, Ladi Martha’s life tells a story of resilience in the face of unimaginable hardship. As a mother of nine and a leader of a community of IDPs, Ladi’s struggle to provide for her family paints a heart-breaking picture of survival far from the homeland she once knew.

Originally from Gwoza, a town in Borno State ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency nearly a decade ago, Ladi fled with her husband and children in search of safety.

However, her journey has not been one of relief. Reflecting on her situation since violence drove her from her home, Ladi said, “Life has never been the same. I have been struggling to fend for my family. I have 9 children to take care of, and one of them is a sickle cell patient. It is not easy.”

At Kuchigoro, Ladi earns a living by frying akara (beans cake) and engaging in seasonal farming in neighbouring Nasarawa State. Each farming season, she travels to Nasarawa State, where she leases land to plant crops. While this allows her to provide for her family during certain times of the year, it is not a sustainable solution.

She said, “Most of the time, it is only God that takes care of us. Although our children are not malnourished, sometimes they go for long periods without fruits, including something as simple as orange.”

One of her children, an 18-year-old boy living with sickle cell disease, requires frequent medical attention. “His condition makes him look younger than his age. When we visit the clinic, they tell me to feed him a lot of fruits and vegetables, but I cannot afford them. I can’t even afford his medication. In a month, his treatment costs more than N7, 000, and that’s a huge burden for me. But I have no choice but to find a way,” Ladi explained, her voice filled with concern.

Ladi’s resilience extends to her children’s education. Despite the financial strain, she ensures that they attend school. “He is in Form 3 now. His siblings are also schooling from my pocket. The cost is overwhelming, especially with the little support we get,” she added.

Ladi’s voice reflects the broader disillusionment felt by many IDPs. According to her, the government has not done enough to address their needs.

“There is nothing from the government in terms of ameliorating the cost of educating our children or improving our health care,” she said, expressing frustration at the lack of support for displaced families like hers.

While food aid sometimes reaches the camp from churches, non-governmental organisations, Islamic centres and individuals, government assistance is sporadic.

She added, “During festive periods like Sallah and Christmas, we get rice, beans, maize and oil. But that’s not enough to meet our daily needs.

“It is a constant battle, but I am determined to give my children the best I can. I only hope that one day they would have the opportunity to live a better life.”

It is expected that before the situation would deteriorate further, pushing the IDPs into social vices, the security situation would have improved, such that they would return to their communities, especially as they are willing to do so.

Responding, Dr Peter Olumiji, the Secretary, Command and Control Centre of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), told our correspondent that the task force saddled with the responsibility of removing the beggars had completed the assignment.

He said it was the duty of the FCT Social Development Secretariat to sustain the effort by continuing to monitor the movement of those categories of people into the prohibited areas.

He also said the director in charge at the secretariat was working hard to ensure that those removed from the streets during the exercise did not return to the streets 

A director at the secretariat who spoke on the condition of anonymity said they had been monitoring the movement of destitute since the task force finished its assignment.

He assured that the arrest of beggars at the city centre would continue.

 

Contributions by Yusha’u A. Ibrahim, Tijjani Ibrahim (Katsina) and Abubakar Auwal (Sokoto)