The Birnin-Gwari Emirate Progressives Union (BEPU) has said bandits had encircled Damari town in the Eastern part of Birnin-Gwari in Kaduna State and abducted 50 people.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Chairman of BEPU, Ishaq Usman Kasai, yesterday. The statement noted that on Monday, the bandits returned to the town unchallenged, burnt a vehicle, kidnapped scores, intercepted and maltreated people, a serious development that reflects the level of serious insecurity situation facing our community.
Kasai said in the last five days, the union has alerted the relevant authorities and the general public about the cruel, wicked and heartless attacks by terrorist bandits in DAMARI, following the withdrawal of Ansaru (a splinter group of Boko Haram) from the area.
The statement noted that the sad event in the last seventy-two hours in Damari town of Kazage Ward, in the eastern part of Birnin-Gwari local government area, Kaduna State has reached a catastrophic situation. As at Sunday, bandits encircled the town and abducted about 50 people, shortly before and after troops from Military field-base from Dogon-Dawa went to the town and escorted some remnants of the residents who were willing to move to comfort zones in neighbouring communities and even to as far away Zaria.
“The most worrisome situation is when a pregnant woman was running away along with her colleagues and was left away by the fleeing groups, where she fell and delivered a baby boy. Unfortunately, both the mother and the baby lost their lives instantly”, he stated.
Damari is considered the largest town in the entire Eastern part of Birnin-Gwari and with this worrisome development, about 20 thousand persons including Women and Children are rendered internally displaced (IDPs).
The union lamented that these calamitous atrocities of armed bandits have made Damari, an agrarian community that yearly produced over 600 tonnes of maize grains, abandoned their ancestral homes and farms for safety.
BEPU is highly concerned about the ugly situation of the citizens of Birnin-Gwari LGA particularly those in the local communities whereby despite all efforts to draw the attention of higher authorities for action as entails in their constitutional responsibilities has failed. We deeply sympathise with all the people of Damari over these trials, and assure them of continued efforts towards supporting them in all possible ways, especially in humanitarian emergency needs.
We would never relent on advancing engagement with the Government, whose major and primary responsibility as enshrined in the Constitution is the protection of lives and properties of the citizenry, to do the needful.
