Residents of Rimi and Bagwas, farming communities in Yelwan-Duguri and Gwana Districts of Alkaleri local government area of Bauchi State have nothing but stories of horror to tell following the invasion of bandits in their community in December 2022.
Reports indicate that 12 residents were brutally killed in Rimi, while eight lost their lives in Bagwas in the attacks by bandits. According to newsmen who visited the area, virtually all residents have deserted the two villages and fled to neighboring Plateau, Taraba and Yobe States.
The report said two communities are looking like a ghost town, as only animals and a handful of youth with local Dane guns were left. A survivor, Mohammed Auwal Zaki, married to two wives, said he had relocated his family to Yobe and Taraba States. According to him, the bandits who numbered about 200 came on motorcycles, brandishing dangerous weapons. The communities attacked by the terrorists include Bagwas, Kafi, Rimi, Gobir and Mansir.
Alarmed by the horrible incidents Governor Bala Mohammed charged residents to defend themselves from callous bandits. He described the attacks as unacceptable.
Governor Mohammed charged security agencies in the state to revisit their strategy against such devastating attacks by intensifying surveillance with a view to restore normalcy in the affected areas. Inspecting the level of damage in the affected communities, the Governor lamented that the perpetrators took advantage of the forests that linked the local government with neighbouring states of Gombe, Plateau and Taraba.
He encouraged the local vigilante groups to collaborate with conventional security outfits in carrying out daily operations, stressing that the informants would be fished out with a view to prosecuting them. The Governor announced financial assistance of N1 million to families of the deceased and asked the State Emergency Management Agency, (SEMA), to take inventory of the houses and properties destroyed to enable the Government to provide relief materials.
The State’s Commissioner of Police, Aminu Alhassan, said the Police had responded to the attacks in good time and neutralised the miscreants in their numbers. He called on the communities to provide the Police with information that would lead to apprehension of more criminals in the area. However, most of the communities who fled their homes after the attack have reportedly started returning after the opening Governor’s visit.
