• Residents vow to resist prolonged oppression, exploitation
After a long period of enduring large scale oppression, exploitation and mindless attacks at the hands of bandits terrorising their area, the people of Kuyello Ward in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State have resolved to take their destiny in their hands. The resolve is coming on the heels of a recent bloody attack that left three underage children and nine others dead, INNOCENT DURU reports.
Aisha, an 11- year-old pupil, went with her two friends for an extra-mural class in a police station in Kuyello Ward, where a wife of a police officer had taken it upon herself to give them extra lessons and ensure they excel academically.
Shortly after the lesson session began, they had an unusual movement within the station. The invaders needed no introduction. Their coarse and reverberating voices gave out who they were and what their mission was.
As a caring mother, the teacher hurriedly led the kids out of the open place they were using and hid them where she considered a safe place.
But her efforts were not enough to save herself and the budding souls from the murderous elements.
“They killed three of them, who were all in Primary Six. The first one, my sister, was 11 years old. Another one was 13 while the third one was 9 or 10,” Abubakar, Aisha’s uncle, told our correspondent.
“The deceased’s father is dead but her mother is alive. I feel heartbroken, I feel devastated. I am unhappy, actually,” Abubakar said, overwhelmed with emotion.
On why the bandits would attack a police station and kill innocent children in the most bestial manner, Abubakar said: “I think the bandits thought they were children of policemen.
“When they came, the teacher was giving them lesson outside her room, I mean in the compound. They have a corner and they were doing their lesson there.
“When the bandits came, she led the children to her room and hid them there.”
The incident, according to him, occurred three weeks ago. “It was on a Thursday around 3 pm. The bandits came and started shooting at people.
“How could we even continue staying in this village like this? We cannot progress like this.”
Villagers counted 60 motorcycles, each with three riders
A worried member of the community, who gave his name simply as Zara, said the bandits who carried out the dastardly act were many.
Zara said: “After they had carried out the attack on our community, people in the neighbouring village who saw them leaving said they counted about 60 motorcycles with three bandits on each.
“I have heard this from two to three individuals. I don’t know if it was only those 60 motorcycles that came to our community or there were more.
“Some of the victims were pupils I taught before.
“People were thrown into mourning after the incident and are still fear stricken about another attack by the bandits.
“Although there is a bit of stability in the town, people are still apprehensive.
Attacks unsettle pupils, teachers
Following the menace of the bandits, Abubakar said: “We cannot even send our children to school. Our secondary school used to close at 2 pm. We can no longer do that again.
“Now we just close at 1 pm or earlier because the teachers and the students are afraid.
“The bandits may come at any given time.”
Abubakar responded in the affirmative when asked if the bandits live within their vicinity. “Yes, we have the bandits around our environment. Very close to our area, from the east to the west.
“In the eastern part of the town, we have them. From the western part of the town we have them again.They usually carry their weapons with them.
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“The bandits used to come to this place to give mechanics their motorcycles for repairs.
“They pay after their motorcycles are repaired. But they don’t usually carry guns when they are coming to fix their machines or buy things.
“But if they are just passing, they pass with their guns, putting fears in the people.”
He noted that the hoodlums always bear new weapons.
“Their own weapons are more sophisticated. They are very, very heavy.
“I can’t even tell the names because I’m not an expert in that field. But I douourif our police have such weapons.
“I have seen them before. I was scared when I saw them. In fact, I just ran for my life out of fear.
“If things continue like this, we have no option but to leave.
“We hardly sleep. We cannot access our farms because of the bandits.
“They come at any time. We have been managing to survive.”
Speaking in the same vein, Zara said: “Children go to school with one eye in class and the other eye on the lookout for possible attack.
“The attendance was very poor today as always.”
The bandits, Zara said, “come with sophisticated guns; I think AK 47 with big bullets.
“They have the type of gun they will put on the ground and start pressing.
“They carry heavy weapons, and the weapons are new.
“You would be surprised to see such and wonder how they gain access to them.”
‘Murder of bandit by miners fuelled attack on Kuyello’
A resident of the community, Muhideen, said the bloody attack on Kuyello was a transferred aggression by the bandits.
His words: “I learnt that one of the bandits went to where miners were searching for gold.
“The bandits used to disturb the miners. After staying at mining sites for weeks searching for gold, the bandits would go there and collect their gold.
“If the miners refuse to give them the gold, they attack and shoot them dead.
“On that fateful day, a bandit threatened to kill a miner for refusing to give him gold. Incidentally, the miner overpowered and killed the bandit.
“The place whereincident occurred is far from our place. But they transferred the aggression to our community.”
After the attack, which left more than 10 people dead and several others injured, Muhideen said the bandits are still not remorseful.
“They said they are coming back. Even today, people in some villages called to inform us that they saw the bandits gathering.
“They said they would attack this town four times. We can’t sleep with our two eyes closed.
“Some people need to stay outside and watch. Once they see some strangers, they tell others to run.”
Bandits attack PoS operators, cart away N1Om, machines
Aside from killing innocent members of the community, Mohammed, a community member said, “the bandits collected money from three PoS centres and took away the PoS machines.
“At one of the PoS centres, they collected more than N10 million cash. They killed four females and seven males in all.
“On October 28, they kidnapped two persons. One was kidnapped in the town and the other one was taken outside Kuyello.”
Following the volume of attacks and oppression that people have gone through at the hands of the bandits, Mohammed said, the confidence level in Keyullo is low.
“It is just about 40 per cent. We are hearing that they will come back again. We don’t know what we have done to them.”
Recalling past efforts to appease the bandits, Mohammed said: “ The government dialogued with them in the past. After that, they started coming to Kuyello to buy goods and services.
“Sometimes they would come and buy things, carrying their AK47. Whenever they come like that we would just sell goods to them and nothing more.
“The government dialogued with them and assured us they would not touch us and that we in turn should not touch them.
“Now, the arrangement has collapsed. Right now, they can’t come and buy anything here. We will not allow them to come unless the government intervenes.
“When that happens, we may continue to sell to them again.”
Farms deserted, investments rotting away
Abubakar lamented that the bandits have made it difficult for them to access their farms, regretting that they may suffer massive losses at the time for them to harvest their produce. “We actually don’t know what we can do about our farms. We have invested everything we have on them. And now that it is nearly time for harvest, how can we even harvest?
“We cannot harvest our produce. I am a farmer. I planted maize, corn and soybeans on my farm.
“All this investment now, they are as good as gone.”
The bandits, he said, “will do anything to you if they catch you. They kill and kidnap. They have killed many people before this time.
“When we go to the farm with our cattle, they used to come and pick up the cattle, kill the workers, some run away.
The governor had a peace accord with them and for a long time, they did not attack or kill. But they used to collect our bikes, phones and cash.
“If you had some cash in your pocket, they would collect it. It happens every time.
“People are leaving the town because they can no longer cope.
“Some people used to go to the bush and gather firewood for a living. They can no longer access the bush now. They have to leave the town.”
Also decrying the effects of banditry on the economy of the community, Zara said: “Our people are farmers. I can tell you that almost 100 per cent of our people are farmers. Everybody is either into subsistence farming or commercial farming.
“Honestly, people cannot go to their farms because the bandits can lay ambush for them.
“There were a lot of kidnappings before now. Our people don’t farm for bandits again, but some villages still do.
“The bandits have not been having control over our village as a result of the bravery of the people and resolve not to accommodate banditry.
“It is those small villages that they can control to farm for them from the beginning of the rainy season.
“We are praying that there should be government intervention to resolve this problem so that people will continue to go to farm.”
Attesting to what the other members of the community said, Muhideen said: “People can’t go to farm anymore without fear.
“The bandits are roaming about, and when they see our people, they kill them. That is what they are saying to communities around us.
“We don’t know what we are going to do. We are just waiting for the government to intervene.
“We don’t have soldiers nearby. We have soldiers in Tabani Ward. From here to Tabani is about five kilometers.
“We have called our chairman to dialogue with them so that they can end the attacks.
“The chairman said he had talked to them.”
Ansaru terrorists back, recruiting new members
Aside from the menace of the bandits, Abubakar said the community is also faced with the challenge posed by the Ansaru terrorist group.
“Ansaru is still mobilising people in the community,” he said. “I heard they are back again, but I didn’t see any one of them because I’m afraid to go where they usually gather.
“I personally don’t go to that place, but I heard they are back.
“They used to come to the town or any village. They used to have some target villages.”
Continuing, he said: “When they come to the village, they will ask people to come and listen to their sermon.
“They will preach, pray, then they will mobilise people to join them, and you see children joining them.
“They do marry, and up till now, the women they married, I’ve never heard or seen any one of them coming back. They’ve gone away with them. Once they leave, they do not come back.”
Contrary to claims that the Ansaru group always protects people from bandits, Abubakar said “neither the bandits nor the Ansaru group protects the community. They are rather terrorising the community.
“The Ansaru group formerly resided in Damari Ward before they moved to Kuyello. I don’t know why they moved.
“But the Ansaru people used to say they were there to protect people from the bandits. They said they would fight bandits but only on one condition, and that is if people join them.
“They will tell people to come and buy weapons, and that people should not marry or buy motorcycle but they should go and buy weapons to fight the government and fight the bandits.
“Even the Ansaru people, we didn’t accept them. They helped the bandits. They came to Kuyello town twice to terrorise people.”
Floating vigilante group not the solution
Responding to why the community cannot organise a vigilante group to confront the bandits, Abubakar said: “Vigilante cannot no longer confront the bandits. They cannot stop them. How can they stop them with such weapons they carry?
“We have soldiers around us. We have a police station in the town. That was the police that was attacked. But the bandits still come.
Everyone needs weapons to protect ourselves
Tired of the bandits’ domination and control, members of the community have resolved to take up arms and confront their oppressors. A frontline member of the community who simply identified himself as Alo said: “The next thing to do is for everybody to have weapons to protect ourselves. This is the only thing we can do humanly speaking. When we have our weapons in our hands, and they have theirs, everybody will be afraid of death. When everybody is armed, the bandits will not come. That is what we have decided.”
Alo noted that the bandits “don’t like our town. They hate Kuyello. Whatever happens anywhere, they will say it is the people of Kuyello.
“That is why they always want to attack our town, but Allah has been helping and protecting us from them.
“When they invaded our town two Thursdays ago, they were shooting sporadically, but God helped us.
“What they wanted to achieve in our community didn’t work out for them.”
Decrying the menace of the bandits in the area, he said: “The bandits rob people of their monies, motorcycles, phones and other valuables. They also take foodstuff from people in the farms.
“If you refuse to give them, they will threaten to shoot you. They are always moving around with their weapons.
“Whenever they say give us this, you must give them. Otherwise, they will shoot you.
“This year, they have come to where they hadn’t been in the past.
“This time, they only want to attack Kuyello. We don’t know what Kuyello has done to them.
“They just hate Kuyello people. They are always armed with AK 47 rifles. They even use brand new ones.”
Also toeing the path of frontal confrontation with the bandits, Mohammed said: “Yes the right thing to do is for everyone to be armed.
“Today, they attacked my elder brother’s son on the farm. He narrowly escaped from them. They invaded his farm around 11am. The bandits also kidnapped other people today. Yesterday, they followed one man from the farm but he also escaped. Three people who were harvesting soyabeans were attacked on their farm.
“They don’t want people to harvest their crops. We have ended farming and are only set to harvest but they aren’t allowing us.”
Mohammed added: “Now, if you want to harvest your crops, you must get people who are armed to follow you to the farm as guards. They will stay with you till you finish harvesting your crops.
“If you need them from money till evening, you may pay each person at least N10,000 to guard you, and you may need between five and 10 people to guard you.
“You have to sacrifice some of the farm produce by selling them to pay the guards.
Police, State govt yet to respond
Kaduna State Police Command PPRO DSP Mansur Hassan and the state Commissioner for Information Malam Ahmed Maiyaki were yet to respond to our inquiries. ”
