Birnin Gwari: A town under the mercy of criminals

LOCATED at the Western part of Kaduna State  Birnin Gwari is the bridge linking the Northern states and the South-West. But in spite of its strategic importance, there is nothing to show that this is a town that has been in existence for over 200 years and after which a local government area was created in 1976 by the then military government.

A resident of Dogo Dawa village under Birnin Gwari emirate,  who pleaded for anonymity remarked that, apart from a state hospital, the town has nothing else to boast of that it is in the reckoning of government. According to the resident, “you cannot point to a  single project provided by the state or federal government.”

He noted further that, “if you had left the town 10 years ago  and come back, you can hardly see any change. Such was the level of neglect we are witnessing today,” he expleined.

But Sunday Tribune gathered that infrastructural neglect is not only their plight Insecurity in Birnin Gwari and its surrounding villages is the major challenge to the people of the area.   For several years, it was gathered, criminals have taken over town and its environs.

A resident in Birnin Gwari town, Mallam Abdullahi Yusuf, contended that these criminals strike at will without resistance.  According to him, armed banditry, kidnapping and rustling are the most thriving enterprise in the community. These criminals, he said, launch their attacks on a daily basis and as a result many people have fled the town to nearby towns like Tegina and Kagara in Niger State and  Dandume and Funtua in Katsina State.

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Elaborating further, the chairman of the community’s vigilance group, Sabo Usman, said they were worried about the level of insecurity, wondering why it had continued despite the concerted efforts put in place by both the state and federal governments.

He told the Sunday Tribune that the various communities in the emirate decided to form volunteer groups to tackle the security challenge in the area to protect the lives and properties of residents in the area.

“We don’t sleep during the day and night. But the bandits know we cannot match them, because we don’t have sophisticated arms like they do,” he stated while explaining why the problem had persisted.

Usman, who said the volunteers, numbering about 2000, were willing to protect their communities, appealed to the government to provide operational vehicles for them, including motorcycles, to assist his members.

Sunday Tribune spoke with the Sole Administrator of Birnin Gwari, Alh Abdullahi Sani, on the perennial insecurity in the area. He explained that his council had always supported the security agencies and the volunteer -vigilance groups with logistics to enable them to discharge their duties. In the same vein, the state commissioner of police, Mr Austin Iwar, in an interview, had pledged to end the menace the criminals had foisted on the people. saying  According to him,. “We are working on a strategic plan of action. I assure you that we are going to flush them out of the state,” he had promised.

However, two incidents that happened in March compelled the paramount ruler of the town, Mallam Jibril Zubairu, Maigwari ll, to cry out for help. The Mallam Zubairu sought the help intervention of government before his subjects were wiped out.  The first incident was the brutal killings of  11 soldiers by the armed bandits at a military base at Kampani Doka. The eyewitness told the Sunday Tribune that the soldiers who had retired to their base on a fateful night were attacked by the hoodlums in the middle of the night.

The outrage over the brutal killing of the soldiers had not died down when the bandits struck again at Tsowar Gwari, killing two persons. They also reportedly abducted nine people including a bride.

A disturbed Mallam Zubairu, Maigwari ll, said  in an interview that if the “soldiers who were deployed to save our lives were been killed, then we cannot said we are safe.” According to him, it  had become imperative for his subjects to defend themselves. The traditional ruler told Sunday Tribune that he had to make the declaration on self defence “ because the situation in my emirate is becoming unimaginable.

“Everybody in the town and surrounding  villages is not safe. We are all  living in fear. I told myself  since the insecurity could not be resolve,  are we going to wait till we are wiped out?”

The Maigwari lamented  that  people are afraid to come and attend weddings in his emirate because of fear of being attacked.  Even banks, he said, were afraid to establish their branches. “At a point, I asked myself whether we are part of Nigeria.”

The state government in a statement issued by the  governor’s media aide, Samuel Aruwan assured the traditional ruler that his emirate will be safe from the lunatics. The statement reiterated government’s readiness to protect the lives of its citizens whereever they may be, advising the citizens to report any suspicious movement to the nearest security post close to them.

In the same vein, the federal government sent a delegation to the Birnin Gwari to assess the security situation in the area. The delegation which was led by the Minister of Interior, Lt Gen Abdulrahaman Dambazzau, had also the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations, Mr Habila Joshak, who  conveyed President Muhammad Buhari’s message to the first class traditional ruler.  He told the emir that President Buhari was very much disturbed and concerned about the insecurity in the area, saying  “God willing, we are going to map out strategies to address the continuous killings of innocent lives, kidnapping and cattle rustling”.

“I want to assure you that, the Federal Government remains committed to protecting life and property of every Nigerian. We will not take banditry, we will deal with them accordingly.” he  assured.

In his response, the traditional ruler, Maigwari ll told his visitor that the insecurity in his domain was so alarming and disturbing that he had to cry out for help.

He said: “I always said are we really part of Nigeria. My people are being killed every day. Every day, I hear of one person being killed or two or more. I am sure the government can do something and my communities will be safe.”

He told the Minister that  his visit to his emirate had confirmed that  the people of Birnin Gwari  were   Nigerians. He advised the federal government  to beam light on  the border between Kaduna and Zamfara, saying it is one of the most notorious borders in the area.

He appealed to the federal government to rehabilitate Kaduna /Birnin Gwari /Jeba  road, saying  it is the gateway between Northern states and the South-West, just as he also made a case for Dandume /Funtua /Birnin Gwari road, whose deplorable conditions, he remarked, were being exploited by the bandits to carry out their nefarious activities.

“These two roads are important to the emirate, as well as the country because these are the roads our political leaders used to go to Lagos for meetings.

“Today, as I was coming from Kaduna, I counted over 200 trucks. You can see why these roads need the federal government’s attention. Our senator and other important personalities don’t use these roads.That’s why they don’t care about them,”he stressed.