Information supplied this week by Senator Ibrahim Gobir, on the floor of the Senate, contradicted Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed who said last month that bandits could not be said to be in control of certain areas of the country because they had allegedly imposed levies on the locals.
Mohammed had told journalists in Abuja that “In many of our cities, they carve out their own territory. So, it is not indicative of the bandits taking over.” That was his reaction to an article that appeared in The Economist magazine titled ‘Insurgency, secessionism and banditry threaten Nigeria.’
He added that the Nigerian media “does itself a great disservice by turning itself into an echo chamber of the foreign media. When The Economist reported its patently wrong and badly researched story, it was immediately amplified by the local media, without even interrogating its content. This is totally unconscionable!”
It is noteworthy that the same Nigerian media criticised by the minister reported the senator’s remarks on the floor of the Red Chamber. In this case, the local media cannot be said to have echoed foreign media, which was the minister’s accusation against them in the case concerning the London-based magazine.
Read Also: Kwara APC chieftain tackles Lai Mohammed
Senator Gobir, representing Sokoto East, in Sokoto State, on November 9, drew the Senate’s attention to some alarming developments. “The terrorists are now installing their village heads in some areas of Sabin-Girin local government,” he said. “In Gangara, they replaced the village head with Dan Bakkolo, the next in command to a known terrorist called Turji. In Makwaruwa, they installed Dan Karami (a terrorist) as Maigari.”
He added that in some villages in some local government areas of the state, they forced residents to pay levies ranging from N1m to N20m. He named the villages: Kwarangamba, Garki, Danadua, Katuma, Kurawa and Dama.
He also said they had killed more than 120 people at the Gorony Market in the state. “The terrorists came to the market and started shooting every person they saw,” he lamented.
It is unclear if those involved in the criminal activities mentioned by the senator are bandits or terrorists, though he calls them terrorists. The two are not the same, but they are similar because they terrorise the people.
The minister has not responded to the information supplied by the senator. It would be interesting to know his position on the senator’s information. The point is that reality is reality, whether the picture of reality is painted by foreign media or local observers. The truth is that these particular bandits or terrorists have taken over the affected communities.
The minister is living in denial. Perhaps he can afford to do so. But the victims of these bandits or terrorists know and feel the hell of insecurity. The minister needs to wake up to reality.
Leave a Reply