Sokoto’s ‘area boys’ give residents sleepless nights

Residents of Gidan Hakki, Meniyo, Nufawa and Makeran Assada in the Sokoto North local government area of Sokoto state are living in perpetual fear of attack by hooligans, locally referred to as “area boys”.  These “unwanted guests” were said by residents of these areas to regard these areas as “soft targets and raid them at […]

Residents of Gidan Hakki, Meniyo, Nufawa and Makeran Assada in the Sokoto North local government area of Sokoto state are living in perpetual fear of attack by hooligans, locally referred to as “area boys”.
 These “unwanted guests” were said by residents of these areas to regard these areas as “soft targets and raid them at will.” In perpetrating their act, the hoodlums spare nobody, including minors, leaving behind gory scenes and sad tales of horror. The miscreants, according to the residents, capitalize on the non-presence of a police station in the area to enforce law and order, and the many escape routes through which they vanish from the crime scenes into other neighbourhoods.
 Narrating his ordeal, an orthopaedic patient, Mustapha Usman Makera, who was attacked by some area boys three days after returning from receiving treatment on a leg in Kano, said he was lying outside his residence because of the hot weather when he observed people running for safety but he could not run because of his broken leg.
 “I sighted a group of about 30 youths armed with dangerous weapons around 9pm last week Wednesday. Some of them came to where I was lying, trying to remove the implant and the plaster-of-Paris on my leg. As I looked up, I was dealt a machete blow on my forehead, resulting in a deep cut.
 “At the time, there was my eight-year-old son sitting by my side who they pounced on with sticks and machetes. I tried to protect him by bending over him and in the process got another cut at the back of my head which would have otherwise hit the boy, yet he sustained injury at the back of his head,” Makera said.
 He added that the boy stole items like handsets, laptops and other valuables left behind by the fleeing residents and shopkeepers, which they threw into sacks they had brought along with them.
 He said that a neighbouring community was attacked two days later, which sent fear of another visit into residents of his own community.
Makera groaned that the attack has affected his leg and resulted in further complication that may warrant resetting of the bone, which his doctor said could cost N200,000.
 Appealing for assistance from the state government as he said he doesn’t have any money to pay for the resetting, Makera called on all the security agencies to work towards halting the ugly trend for the safety of citizens and their property “at this critical time that our governor is working tirelessly to woo investors.”
  Another resident who sought anonymity said there is a gang rivalry among the hooligans, which had led to several deaths and destruction of property. The resident wondered why these gangs have found it so easy making their neighbourhoods centres of attacks.
 A journalist who resides in one of these areas, Bashar Abubakar, recalled an episode where warfare between area boys of two wards led to the blockade of the road leading to the Sultan’s palace. The destructive attacks, he said, lasted for days before it was brought under control by the police.
 Abubakar stated that the boys also usually lure commercial motorcyclists, under the pretext of hiring them to convey them (the area boys) to certain locations, but along the way, they attack the cyclists and snatch their motorcycles.
Addressing a press conference last Tuesday, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Alhaji Salisu Fagge, said the police have information about the activities of the hooligans and that the command had swung into action already.
Saying the police were determined to fish the boys out from their hideouts, Alhaji Fagge appealed to the general public to go about their lawful activities as ”the police are on top of the situation.”
The spokesman of the command, DSP Almustapha Sani, yesterday confirmed the arrest of 25 hoodlums that were being interrogated. Sani said that the police would not rest on their oars until they rid the state of hooliganism.