In this interview by Abdull-Azeez Ahmed Kadir in Tudun Biri, Igabi Local Government of Kaduna State, Mallam Idris Umar who lost 14 of his children to Nigerian Army Combat Drone attack on December 3rd, 2023 relayed what happened and how they battle bandits, while pleading with the government to come to their aid
VOL: Can you tell us you name?
Umar: My name is Idris Umar
VOL: Were you affected by the Army drone attack?
Umar: Yes I was.
VOL: How?
Umar: I lost 14 children in the so called mistaken attack
VOL: How did it happen?
Umar: I was at home. In fact, I was lying down in the room when I heard the sound of something breaking or exploding. Then someone screamed and said it was bomb attack against us while the Maulud (the commemoration of the birth of Prophet Mohammed) was on going, directed at mostly women and children.
We were evacuating the dead, picking the pieces of body parts of those turned into mince meats, and rescuing the injured when the second attack targeted all of us.
In the second attack, over 10 male adults and bread winners were killed and others injured.
VOL: Of your killed 14 children, how many were males and females?
Umar: They were 6 males and 8 females.
VOL: Since the incident, have you received any succor from government or any individuals or groups?
Umar: We got certain things shared for us and they said it was from the government.
VOL: What are the things?
Umar: We got rice, beans and pasta. There was also maize and palm oil.
VOL: What is the quantity of these things you got as we know you are farmers and farm some of these things in large quantities?
Umar: Each household got 8 bags. But they are small, small bags of 8KG and not big bags.
VOL: What of those that sustained injuries?
Umar: There are also many. They are about 76.
VOL: Accessing this place was difficult for us with absence of basic social amenities. What is your call to the authorities?
Umar: We have no accessible road. No school. No hospital.
We are calling on the government to, in the name of Almighty Allah and because of this sad incident that happened to us to come to our aid and wipe away our tears by establishing a hospital, school and accessible road. They should also provide us with security because we have been battling this bandits seriously.
Before this sad incident, the bandits attacked us about three times and we lost over 10 people. But because our youth have been very resisting, and anytime they invade our community, the youth battle them to a standstill, resist them and chase them back. But we always record casualties.
VOL: But the military authorities said you know these bandits and they use Tudun Biri as hideouts among you people?
Umar: It is far from the truth. The bandits have never and will never reside among us. In fact, their attempts to invade and attack us was not more than three times. We resist and battle them each time.
Our youth, before now were trained and given identity cards by one serving army officer then known as Ali, and they served as vigilantes. Then they had the freedom of the vigilante work and really dealt a great blow on criminals.
The criminals tried to dislodge us from this village, but with God’s protection and efforts of our youth, we triumph over them.
So, I am still pleading with the government, following this unfortunate incident that befell us; we are not saying government was responsible for the incident, we take it as our destiny from God Almighty and we plead with Government to develop this community for us
