Zamfara killings: Buhari has abandoned us, survivors lament

Muhammadu Buhari

For those far from Zamfara and environs, where bandits have literally taken over the reign, kidnapping and killing people with abandon, it may just be exaggerated news. But for those who have been through the horror and have seen the miscreants in action, it is something hard to imagine. Gboyega Alaka, who spoke with some people in the region, reports.

WHAT could make a BBC-trained journalist of Kadaria Ahmed’s standing lose her cool, so much as to go for the jugular of the governor of her home state and describe him as “the most useless governor in the history of Nigeria?”

That must be the question on the lips of many, who watched the broadcast practitioner’s outburst online or read the report in the news.

But the former Managing Editor at the defunct 234Next newspapers, who as recently as February this year reminded the whole world of the stuff she is made of when she practically put the two frontline presidential candidates in the recent general election on the precipice, literally answered the question herself, when she went further to declare that, “This is a governor whose action to the killings in his state was to resign as Chief Security officer… I don’t know what he is still doing in office… The fact that they (Zamfara people) are getting killed does not concern him. He lives most of his time here in Abuja…. What sort of leadership is that?”

Kadariah’s outburst however pales in the face of Dr Sulaiman Shuaibu Shinkafi, an academician and Safkin Shanun Shinkafi’s vituperation. As far as Shinkafi is concerned, Governor Abdul Aziz Yari is “the most useless governor in the world – not even in Nigeria, because he cares nothing about his people’s security, wouldn’t offer the victims of the bandits food nor tell them sorry.”

According to Shinkafi,  “The situation in our state, especially in Shinkafi Local Government, where I am domiciled, is really bad and deteriorating by the day. So many people are being killed by bandits on a daily basis, in 50s and hundreds. Just yesterday (last Tuesday), a whole village, Baje, was sacked, set on fire and 120 people killed. The week before, 52 people were killed in a village called Gidan da Mousa and Kursasa; and last month, 105 people were killed in Kware ward in Shinkafi Local Government, with nobody looking their way in terms of relief or condoling with them. Even as I speak with you, somebody is whispering to me that the bandits have entered a town called Shanawa and killing people. In Baje Village where I said about 120 people were killed, some victims and corpses are still in the bush, earlier today, we went in search of them.”

“The funniest thing is we don’t have IDP camps. Whenever we try to set up IDP camps in the primary schools, the local government people will come and chase them away. So as we speak, people are literally living on the streets, destitute and in palpable fear.”

When asked what the police have done in the face of this breakdown of law, Shinkafi said, “Nothing. Part of the problem we have is that we have police officers who have stayed like 15 years in the area and have more or less become too familiar with the miscreants. You’d recall that the president said not too long ago that a police officer shouldn’t stay more than three years in a place. That way, it is hard to co-opt or corrupt them.”

To make matters worse, Shinkafi said the hospitals are in very bad shapes. “If you go to the hospital with bullet wounds, you will die there – because there are no medicines and no drugs. The personnel there are so handicapped. Ordinary fence, the hospital does not have; believe me, I cannot even send my dog there for treatment.”

Asked what the local government is doing about the condition of the hospital, Shinkafi said, “All the local government chairmen are interested in is to cart the money and go. And this is because they are not responsible to the people because they were not voted but imposed by the governor.”

No-one is safe

Painting a picture of the helpless situation, Dr. Shinkafi said, “Nobody is safe. All the big men, chairmen, Secretary to the local government… have migrated to Gusau, the state capital. So it is only the poor villagers who have nowhere to go that are left at the bandits’ mercy. We are the ones who are being killed. And when these killings happen, nobody in authority has a word of sympathy for us. Even the president has neglected us. We are accusing President Muhammadu Buhari because he is not saying sorry to us. When they abducted the Chibok girls, he invited the parents, consoled them  and gave them money. And when they brought them back after negotiating  with the terrorists, he sponsored their schooling; but in our case, he has not done or said anything.

“So I can tell you that the president is the first person to neglect us. He allowed the governor to kill us and to do anything with us, as if we did not give him our votes. But during the election, we saw how almost ten soldiers were guiding ballot boxes. And now, he has abandoned us to the mercy of the bandits. What kind of nonsense is that?”

To further underline what he considers the president’s biased positioning on security matters, Shinkafi said, “SARS killed Kolade (the gentleman who was shot and killed at a football viewing centre in Lagos) and the president publicly spoke against it and immediately ordered an investigation. The culprits are being dealt with as we speak. But in our case, nothing. I have not seen any bandits killed or taken to court.”

To make matters worse, Shinkafi could not even explain the motive for the killings. “They are killing people, they are kidnapping people for ransom. If they kidnap your brother, they ask you to bring N30million. If you don’t have N30million, you keep negotiating until it gets to like N15million or N10million. If you are not able to present the money, they kill your brother, husband, daughter, son, as the case may be. As I am talking to you, they have seized 19 children of between 6-8years in Shinkafi and are demanding N30million. They abducted one pregnant woman and we understand that she has given birth in their camp yesterday. So most times, if we don’t sell our things and raise the money, the hostage’s life is at risk.

In This Story:#SulaimanShuaibuShinkafi #GboyegaAlaka #SARS #MuhammaduBuhari #KadariaAhmed #ZamfaraState

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