Bauchi community protest alleged invasion of ancestral land by military

Traffic was held up for several hours on the ever-busy Bauchi-Jos highway on Sunday as residents of Shadawanka village trooped out and blocked the road, protesting what they described as an illegal ejection from their ancestral land.

The residents made up of men, women and children trooped to the road around Zaranda Hotel chanting songs of disagreement with the development as well as holding placards with various inscriptions displaying their displeasure over the move.

A resident, Muhammad Tajudeen Ahmed while speaking on the development said “we are here on the road to show our displeasure over the move to eject us from our ancestral land. We have lived here several years ago, our forefathers were born here”.

He added that “We are accusing the Bauchi Emirate Council of behind the move to eject us in collaboration with the military authorities. We just saw some Soldiers on Saturday who came and asked us to vacate our homes. Where are they taking us to? This is our land and we are not ready to leave it for any reason.”

Also speaking, Habibu Suleiman said that “we are here to let the world know that there is injustice going on here. We have been here for a very long time, those two rocks you are looking at were the abode of the first settlers of the area. No compensation has been paid to our forefathers over the acquisition of the land”.

He stressed that sometime in 2020, around September, the District Head of Miri sent a message to them to vacate the land but later rescinded that decision saying that they were surprised when on Saturday some military personnel came around and asked them to immediately vacate the area.

Habibu Suleiman added that “we are not leaving this place until the government comes to our aid, we are ready to remain here as long as help will come to our ways, we will rather die fighting for our rights than chicken out and allow some unscrupulous people take our inheritance.”

He also said that the affected communities have written protest letters to the government, human rights organizations, the military but nothing was done to help them calling on the state Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir to as a matter of urgency intervene in the situation.

An old man, Haliru Abubakar who is the head of the communities spoke to Journalists saying that the communities have existed in the area for over 200 years saying, “we have been here even before the army barracks came, why should someone just wake up one day and ask a whole community to vacate ancestral land”.

Haliru Abubakar said that the Emirate Council is at the forefront of the move to eject them from their ancestral land because according to him, “we have been summoned to the palace on the matter, but, who are we to challenge the authority, all we are asking for is fairness and justice”.

While reacting to the development, the spokesperson of the military in Bauchi said that “What I knew and I believe, soldiers have no problem with anyone, the Land was allocated to Army for the purpose of building the barracks by the Bauchi state government for more than 48 years now”.

He added that “The map and certificate were issued to Army and the Army was not part of the compensation process, it was done by Bauchi State government and Bauchi Emirate council”.

Bauchi State Police Command confirmed that there was a peaceful protest by the communities over the alleged invasion of their land by military personnel who were erecting some fences around the land.

The PPRO, SP Wakili Ahmed while speaking to our correspondent on phone said that “yes, the Police Command received a distress call that there was a military invasion on a plot of land which led to protest around Guru community. Under the directive of the Police Commissioner, Sylvester Abiodun Alabi, officers and men of the Command were immediately drafted to the area and met the protestants on the road”.

He added that the Police with the Special Adviser on Security Matters to the Governor, Gen Yake tried to pacify the protestants assuring them that government will look into the issue surrounding the development.

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