By Aminu A. Naganye & Saddam M. Burra
Covering a space of 205, 900 ha, a large swath of Lame-Burra Game Reserve has now become bandits’ den. Bandits have taken over most parts of the forest, seconded by Illegal miners and loggers that even the neighbouring villages are at the mercy of.
Post 2009 Boko Haram violence with occasional communal and political restiveness, Bauchi enjoyed relative peace than most states in Nigeria. Currently, bandits are laying siege, terrorising villagers and denying them access to their farms, taking hundreds of millions of naira as ransom from the subsistence agriculturalists.
Risking through the dangerous areas of Burra-Balma-Sama axis of north Ningi LGA where bandits have established a stronghold, Xchange Hama Media in collaboration with WikkiTimes chronicle frightening stories of rural communities that face existential threat.
A community leader, Alh Bala Adamu, explained that unemployment, poverty, absence of governance in the remote areas near the forest and government neglect of the Game Reserve were the issues that watered the ground for the eventual influx of the bandits in the area.
Alh. Adamu recalled that from the 2016 influx of what he called strangers started to become visible, taking over abandoned spaces in the axis. By 2018, pockets of rustling and kidnapping were recorded while from 2019 to 2020, millions were already being paid as ransom.
Like most of the State, the surrounding communities to the forest live in one of the lowest standards of living as the state has 61.53% poverty rate, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics.
According to Mutari Saleh, in the last few years, there had been over hundred incidents of kidnapping and attacks in the rural communities in Ningi LGA.
Mutari SaleMutari Sale
Earlier in July 2023, armed gunmen in army and police uniforms invaded Kada community shooting sporadically killing six people on the spot including the ward head, Maianguwa Aliyu. Prior to the attack, the bandits had been there for years.
Kada, a rural community with neither police station nor any security outfit, has been at the mercy of terrorists that had been ravaging other rural communities.
Usman Ali, a son of the late Maianguwa, explained that bandits shot his father dead right before the mosque where he prayed. “As usual, people converge here in front of our house and my late father was in the mosque. Suddenly, a motorcycle appeared with three people fully kitted in police and soldiers uniforms around 8:30 pm. They instantly started shooting sporadically in the direction of the people. They shot my father dead immediately he stepped out of the mosque.
“They chased people and broke into the shops and carted away with a lot of things. In fact, my phone is with them when they are called and they often insult people,” Ali told Xchange Hama Media earlier in 2023.
Malama Kananatu, the widow of Mainanguwa said he left two widows and children that their lives traumatised since the sad episode. “We are in deep trouble. The entire community has been traumatised that some people are vacating the village.”
According to the matriarch, “They came right inside this room. They shot at the door and when they entered, they said they wouldn’t kill women.”
For Ibrahim Adamu, the attackers did not just terrorise them but sniffed out the life of his elder brother whose two widows and seven children now look up to him. “My brother Shuaibu Mainera was killed. He was 48.” said Ibrahim in a rather helpless tone. “They shot him twice and carted away his valuables.”
Hauwa’u Shuaibu, the deceased widow whose vulnerability was apparent, conceded that his death has been destined “but life is becoming tough. We are left with orphans. We prayed for God’s wrath on the perpetrators and their enablers.”
Hauwa, a widow of late ShuaibuHauwa, a widow of late Shuaibu
“We were living peacefully with our husband, the cursed people sniffed out his life and rendered us vulnerable. His brothers are also destitute and we have nothing except God and his messenger,” Furera decried.
Upon arrival into the public sphere of Kada community, sparsely-terrorised faces welcome one which signifies a people that live not just in a harsher economic circumstance but also a people that surrender their fortunes and sometimes lives to the terrorists that took over their bushes.
Kada Market Square where bandits killed six in July 2023
Recurrence of attacks in Burra-Balma axis
Around 2019, bandits that operate largely in North West Nigeria have already reached Bauchi, the north east. With a vast ungoverned space in the deep Burra forests, it has become a den for their operations.
According to residents and vigilante groups, six of the 11 wards – Balma, Bashe, Kurmi, Kudu-Yamma, Kyata and Sama – in Ningi LGA have had recurrent attacks from the terrorists in the last four years.
In the expansive forests that link Bauchi with Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna States, deadly criminal activities such as kidnapping, cattle rustling and attacks on the rural communities are recurrent.
“Some of them fled from the Katsina-Zamfara axis and base in our forest here”, said Saleh Adamu Gara in an interview with Xchange Hama Media.
According to him, it started as cattle rustling that metamorphosed into a banditry similar to what is happening in the North West.
In July 2023 alone, around 20 people were killed while many were abducted in the area. “Recently, the bandits attacked Kada and Gara Communities where they gunned down six residents and kidnapped others in Sama, Balma,” he told Xchange Hama media in late 2023.
Paving the way for banditry
According to locals, cattle rustling and abduction started around 2016 but took a frightening dimension in 2019. A resident of Burra, Sani Alhassan said their communities were already paying ransom of tens of millions in 2016.
In 2020, the then Ningi LGA chairman, Hon. Mahmud Tabla, was suspended by the Bauchi state Government, among other issues, for alleged involvement in illegal tree felling activities in the area that now faces the security challenge. Hon. Tabla, later, raised an alarm of terrorist invasion in the area, saying that the locals were being extorted through ransom payment as around 100 million had been paid by 2020. However, the situation seems to be deteriorating as of 2023.
Due to the vast nature of the area and almost non-existence of government in the deeper rural communities coupled with loggers and illegal miners working in illegal mining sites, experts observed that the area was drifting toward an ungoverned space that can harbour criminals. In 2016, Abdul Burra raised a similar position to draw attention of the authorities.
Sani Isah observed that “the influx of people allegedly from Zamfara and other places and the alleged selling of land to them are what destroyed the peaceful atmosphere in our communities.”
Strangers, local collaborators terrorise communities
Multiple sources across the hotline communities averred that most of the terrorists in the forest terrorising them were strangers who found sanctuary in the ungoverned spaces.
According to a kidnap victim in Balma town, Mallam Ado, who secured his freedom after paying a ransom of 6.5 million naira to his captors, said the terrorists are a syndicate of strangers and local collaborators.
Malam Ado observed while in captivity that “most of them are strangers. I swear they aren’t from here but they have local collaborators who know the terrain very well. There are some from different parts of the country, especially North West.”
Another Balma resident who narrowly escaped abduction when his residence was burgled, told Xchange Hama Media in confidence that the terrorists have informants in the communities. “Some of them are known. Father of one was arrested some time ago, but they threatened that all the communities in this axis would be terrorised. His father had to be released. We are in a difficult situation.”
For Usman, whose narration implied that the banditry started many years ago, their adversaries include home-grown collaborators. He explained that systematic targeting and elimination of vigilante leaders proved that insiders in the communities are working with the terrorists. He alleged that one Lurwanu from Lambura hamlet who now settled in the bush is a classic example.bush is a classic example.
Usman Ali, son of late Maianguwa
He averred that “the problem started like 3-4 years ago. The bandits killed many vigilante leaders such as Baushe Sa’adu, Nasabira and Alh. Auta. They killed them all.
“It is Lurwanu that is reigning this violence on our communities. In fact, before they attacked us here, he abducted his maternal uncle. He is a notorious local collaborator who leads them.
“He was asking where the vigilantes were when they shot at people in that Tuesday night attack. He is originally from Lambura village close to Masussuka but he is now in the bush,” Usman alleged.
Ibrahim KadaIbrahim Kada
Ibrahim, whose brother was brutally murdered, echoed that the manner of killing and dumping the corpse suggested an insider’s work. “They dragged my brother’s corpse to our father’s room who is a blind and dumped it there for him. They even place our father’s hand on the dead body of his son, our brother.”
Killings, abductions, Ransoms continue as villagers sleep on trees, in bushes
As the communities continue to live between extreme fear, deep sorrow and palpable anger, the ravaging terrorists continue to strike, abduct, kill and displace the villages with little resistance.
In a hamlet called Hayi close to Balma, the attackers killed a member of a vigilante group right in his house in addition to numerous attacks across the communities.
According to Isah Balma, in Balma alone in one week around mid 2023 residents paid 14.5 million ransoms to secure release of their relatives. “Ado paid 6.5 million naira ransom. The other two people that were released together paid 4 million naira each making it 8 million.”
“As of now one man from this town is being held. They are negotiating with his family. They are demanding 15 million naira. Where will he find such an amount? The other person they killed here is a member of a vigilante group, they didn’t ask for ransom, they just killed him right on his bed.”
Saleh AdoSaleh Ado
Saleh Ado said his community now finds refuge in nearby trees and bushes to avoid the ruthless bullets of the bandits. “For days now we sleep in the bush. Immediately after Magrib prayer, we move to bush to sleep to avoid the bullets of bandits should they strike our houses.”
The situation is the same in several villages that are close to the Balma-Burra-Tabla axis. In the last three years, the bandits have raided and attacked villages murdering scores, taking hundreds of millions of naira as ransom. Such villages include Sama, Shange, Gamji, Gara, Kada, Kuluki, Kwajale, Balale, Yadagungume, Limi, Tipchi, Zahi, Kyata, Zahi and Yelwan Jimi.
Earlier in August, 2023, four were abducted in Sanga settlement of Kwangoro village, the attackers struck in Lumbu and Yadagugume taking three for ransom.
Between July and August 2023 12 people in Yadagungume and neighbouring Toro were gunned in separate attacks including an Igbo businessman called Chinonso Ugwu who settled in Balele village.
In June 2023 district head of Balma and other 2 people in Bakutumbu village were kidnaped before “they were released after payment of huge ransom”, a source disclosed.
Women, children desert villages
Saidu Adamu narrated that many affluent individuals have relocated their families. “Because almost all the attacks occur at night, most of our wives have deserted here for Ningi town and other places they feel safe. Like me I do open my shop during the day, go to the farm when it is safe to go and by the evening, I would leave for Ningi. It is difficult but I have to endure.”
Musa Saleh, said “Almost all housewives that were married from other places that are safe have gone home with their children because it isn’t safe here.”
Mudi Alhassan and other elders in the community
However, a septuagenarian, Mal. Mudi Alhassan said all his life has been in his community and he prefers to die there than to migrate to start anew elsewhere. “I can’t leave here. I am here. I would rather die than to vacate from my ancestry to someone that came recently.”
Logging, mining aiding, abetting bandits
Another dimension that is aiding the conflict is the activities of loggers and illegal miners in the bandit-dominated territory. It was not clear when mining and logging started but Sani Bala submitted that there have been two lucrative businesses in the area that draw people from far and near. It is estimated that there are over 50 illegal mining sites across different parts of Ningi with high concentration in the volatile axis.
In a visit to Dabar Lantana, the largest mining site with about 1000 people which is located in a hard-to-reach mountainous area about 70 Kilometres away from Ningi town, tin-miners allegedly supply drugs to bandits in exchange for their safety.
A shot from Dabar Lantana Mining site
“There are over 100 tents and small houses constructed with mud here. There are many small sites,” our guide said.
“The miners were drawn from different parts of the country including Katsina, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Taraba, Kaduna, Kebbi and Jos.”
Another source who confided in our reporters said that bandits are visiting the mining site to buy food, drugs and sometimes have a pastime with prostitutes.
“We are suspecting that terrorists patronise prostitutes and they use the women to buy food items, drugs and lodged them in their tents,” he said.
He told our reporters that the gunmen use Dabar Lantana as conduit to access consumables. “I can remember one day bandits met us at our mining well and asked for drugs, we told them we had none. They sent one of us to buy N20, 000 drugs.”
He noted that the bandits get food supplies to their hideouts through the mining sites.
“They warned us that they will not harm us but we should keep away from their activities; so they associate with us freely.They never attack any mining sites at the mountain,’’ he added.
A shot from Dabar Lantana Mining site
The source said that the bandits camped at Dutsen Chabara as their hideout due to its inaccessibility and thick forest that gives them a shield.
Another miner, Safiyanu Katsinawa, admitted witnessing influx of people to the site recently, adding that “there is a possibility of harbouring terrorists especially by prostitutes.” However, a prostitute, Amina Nasarawa, confirmed that “we are interacting with unknown people of which their station we couldn’t ascertain” but refuted providing sanctuary to criminals.
Some miners at site
However, in a phone conversation with Chairman Miners Association in Ningi, Alh. Ibrahim Dan Alkali, refuted claims that bandits find sanctuary in the mining sites. He also denied that the mining activities are illegal as they have backing of traditional and local authorities in the area.
He noted that a kidnap suspect was arrested at Dabar Samu, 2 Kilometres away from Dabar Lantana. “The LGA and the community leaders are aware of all the mining activities because the LGA constituted a mining committee headed by the LGA secretary and they are aware of what we do.”
A community leader in Jigawan Kuran, a neighbouring village, who preferred anonymity said, ”Our communities are in danger, nobody could predict what will be the security situation of these areas in days to come, with heavy influx of illegal miners.”
It has been established that illegal mining activities fuel insecurity in Nigeria that aggravated rural banditry that grounded rural communities in many places in Nigeria.
Recently, Minister of Defence, Badaru Abubakar has disclosed that illegal mining is aiding insecurity in the country. Niger and Zamfara States have once banned illegal mining activities.
Security presence episodic as daring bandits threaten more attacks
Amidst attacks in the villages whose scattered locations become their Achilles heel, security presence remains episodic. One-off passing security vehicle passes through the villages during the day only to be tiptoed by bandits at night.
For days that the reporters traversed the rural communities, there were only security presence in major towns such as Burra which has a police station, an army base and recently formed Operation Restore Peace (ORP) that moves around the axis to flush out terrorists. Other places such as Balma have a symbolic presence of police but are grossly inadequate and lack superior weapons to counter the bandits as confirmed by a kidnap victim “We were held captive when security operatives engaged them. The vigilante and the security personnel had to retreat. It was a traumatising experience I had.”
Usman Ali revealed that “we don’t have security outfits stationed here. They only come and go. We need to have security personnel permanently stationed here to protect us.”
We need mobility, weapons to counter bandits – vigilante group
As many took on their heels, others resigned to fate, many young men joined vigilante groups in their communities.
Usman Kada, head of vigilante in Kada, Gara and surroundings whose group lost six people recently alleged that suspects are mysteriously finding their way out of custody after their arrest and hand over to the authorities.
He lamented that mobility and weapons challenges are scuttling their efforts to rid their communities of bandits.
members of Vigilante Group in Kada
“They have the weapons but the little we have we have to tax ourselves to acquire them. There is no security here except us. When we make arrests and hand them over to the authorities, they will shortly be discharged and we become enemies.
“Our greatest challenge is to acquire better guns and bullets. We also need mobility because sometimes we would be informed that they are attacking Gamji, Masussuka or Lumbu communities but we have to borrow motorcycles from people and fuel them ourselves to go to their rescue.”
Insecurity spread across other LGAs in Bauchi
As Ningi communities live with the pain of violence, several other communities in Warji, Toro, and Alkaleri LGAs are facing similar challenges.
In Warji, the influx of herders from Zamfara has unsettled many farmers coupled with cases of murder on farms and bushes that are becoming recurrent recently.
According to ward head of Gandu, Sirajo Idris, “In this year 2023, at least nine people were killed. For instance, apart from Nuhu that was axed on the head, there were others such as one in Kagadama was stabbed, one in Dallaji, one in Bura, another one in Jagwadin whose corpse was recovered in Fangala and his bike was said to have been fled with toward Ningi.”
Imarana Nuhu narrated how his father was killed on the farm leaving behind 16 children, two widows. “We discovered his corpse pierced with an axe on his head with blood drained from his body. It was a gruesome killing that you wouldn’t want to see.
“There was only one suspect arrested but shortly released by the police.
“There are new entrants in the bush. They are herders from Zamfara. They are different from our local Fulani herders here.”
In Jagwadin where one was killed, the community leader, Maiunguwa Ilimi, confirmed that “There are zamfarawa herders that graze in the areas where our farms are located but we can’t confirm they killed the Youngman.
In Toro LGA that shares a border with Ningi, Plateau and Kaduna States, there have been cases of killings and attacks on remote areas and major towns including Tilde, on Bauchi-Jos highway.
For Alkaleri, the birthplace of Bauchi State Governor, through the tourist Yankari Game Reserve, bandits are taking roots in the communities. There have been kidnappings for ransoms and attacks on communities.
When contacted, spokesman for Bauchi Police Command, Ahmed Wakil, averred that there are enough police officers in the areas and have taken over the hotline areas through community policing.
He said “with the advent of community-based policing, it is a strategy for the police to allow the community to participate. Secondly, it is not necessary for the police officers there to always be in uniform. We have strategized what we called surveillance patrol. So you may come across them and may not know they are police officers. And the vigilantes are part of the community policing. Some of our officers deployed are on stop and search.
“We deployed officers and men to those axes. They were dispatched to all nooks and crannies of those areas to give security.”When asked about illegal mining sites that allegedly provide cover for bandits the PPRO said “you may enquire from the ministry of mining. That is their own area of jurisdiction. They have a spokesperson. Please, I am done with you.”
He said that the police can only provide security in mining sites when they are asked to do so.
“Whenever somebody comes for mining, they have to follow a process. You have to come through the ministry of mining and there is no way the ministry of mining would not link you up with the police and they would be deployed there. If you follow the legal process, there is no way we won’t provide you with security. But if you cut the corner and come through another way, I don’t know. If the bandits go there, it is expected that people will report to the police.”
He said that he is not aware of the arrest and release of a bandit’s father as earlier alleged. “I am not privy to such and I may not speak about what I don’t know.
On releasing suspects arrested by vigilantes, he said he cannot speak on the issue as the police prosecute all suspects to court.
Governor Bala Mohammed had earlier instructed villagers to defend themselves against bandits. He earlier vowed to recruit 10,000 vigilantes to combat growing banditry in the State but that is yet to materialise.
The spokesman for the State governor, Mukhtar Gidado, neither responded to text and WhatsApp messages sent to him nor picked calls placed on his phone.
This publication is produced with support from the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
