Some concerned stakeholders have lamented the deteriorating security situation of Birnin-Gwari, one of the local government areas in Kaduna State, which used to be an ancient agrarian and commercial town, but is now bedeviled by unending banditry and kidnapping for years.
According to figures cited in earlier reports, as at the last count, over 27,000 indigenes and known indigenes have been displaced by the activities of bandits.
Picture caption: The Emir of Birnin-Gwari, HRH, Mallam Zubairu Jibril-Mai Gwari II
Recounting the experience of the residents, the Dan-Masanin Birnin-Gwari, Alh. Zubair AbdulRa’uf, who is the spokesperson for the Birnin-Gwari Emirate said, I must confess, nothing has improved security-wise in my town, Birnin-Gwari. Other areas like Buruku, Udawa, Dogon-Dawa and other surrounding towns are facing a similar problem.
“Instead, crimes in these areas, especially, Kuduru Hills and forest, have taken a multi-dimensional approach. Crimes have grown from cattle-rustling that we used to know to more sophisticated crimes, such as kidnapping and ransom payment. For about ten years, we were battling criminals over cattle-rustling.
“As I speak with you, there is no family in Birnin-Gwari, whose family members have not been kidnapped or raped. Banditry has taken a frightening dimension in all these areas, because of the activities of persons illegally mining solid minerals such as gold and tins, which are in large quantities in these areas.
The Dan-Masani further disclosed that economic activities in all these areas including his place, Birnin-Gwari, have long been grounded by bandits.
He said the situation is so bad, that people can no longer visit their family members, no matter how close. People no longer travel for fear of being molested or kidnapped by these criminals.
He added that farmers in these areas have abandoned their farms and that so many villagers have relocated to neighbouring towns and villages around Kaduna State, where the security situation is a little better, where they could eke out a living by doing all sorts of menial jobs just to survive.
Dan-Masanifurther lamented that most of these farmers left their families behind in Birnin-Gwari town and villages. He said some of their farmers who still manage to go to their farms, out of desperation pay some money to the criminals just to ‘buy’ their way through to and from their farms.
According to him, the Birnin-Gwari market, which used to be a Trans-Sahara market, has long been closed down due to the halt in economic activities.
“All the financial institutions that used to operate and have offices in Birnin-Gwari town have long closed down. Birnin-Gwari, if you must know, is unfortunately now a ghost town.
He continued: All education activities in Birnin-Gwari have failed, and all the social-economic activities in the town and the neighbouring villages and towns have all been grounded to a halt for several years now.
The most painful aspect of all these is the fact that school enrollment of our children has dropped drastically, almost to a zero percent”.
According to him, parents no longer allow their children to go to school, for fear of not knowing what will happen to them, saying, “In ten to twenty years from now, you can imagine what the implication of this, will be on our children”.
“It hurts that our children are no longer able to go to school to seek knowledge, which is very important to their general development in this period and time.
“I must confess, people are fed up, not knowing what to do, with their lives. We are however still hanging on, believing that better days will come.
“I must say, we need help. How soon this help will come, is left for Allah to decide. The Emir, Mai-Gwari II, has asked all of us, to continue to pray for Gods intervention; this, we are already doing now”, he summarised.
Recall that on November 8, 2018, former Chief of Air Staff, Air-Marshal Sadiqque Abubakar, who visited the town, said the Nigerian Air force is very happy about the progress the Air Force had made in its efforts to flush out the bandits in all the surrounding forest in those areas.
The NAF outpost, according to the Air-Marshal, is to enable the Air Force planes, bombarding the forest, to refuel and continue with their assaults.
However, three years after this statement and assurance, banditry in these areas and so many other places in Kaduna state is yet to be curtailed.
