Deyeji village: 30-year-old symbiotic relationship ends in fatality
Residents of Deyeji village in Gudu Local Government Area of Sokoto State are still recounting their ordeals after being attacked by the people they had been living peacefully with for over 30 years.
The attack took place last Tuesday when many of the residents were in the mosque for the sunset prayer.
According to Daily Trust Saturday findings, the attackers were on a revenge mission following their arrest by the army after a report about their heinous activities was said to have been lodged by the villagers.
The attackers, who were Fulani, were alleged to have vowed to attack the village and kill anyone within sight to revenge their arrest.
“They said since we reported them to security agencies, they will not leave any human being alive in our village,” one of the villagers told Daily Trust Saturday.
“The Fulani have lived with us for over 30 years and when we realised that some of them were into kidnapping and banditry, we reported them to the army who arrested them.
“They were bailed by a prominent traditional ruler in the area, and since then, they vowed to attack and kill everyone in the village.
“They know that we patrol our area after the sunset prayer every day, reason they launched their attack when many of us were in the Mosque to observe our prayers,” a source said.
Malam Buda, whose son was shot by the bandits and is recuperating at the Usmanu Danfodiyo Teaching Hospital Sokoto, said this was the fifth time the assailants were coming to their village, but their previous comings were not fatal, because they only collected monies from shop owners and left.
According to him, they had collected millions of naira from the villagers, and so, they decided to use locally fabricated weapons to guide their community against further attacks.
He noted that the casualties would have been more but for the quick intervention of the military and the fact that many of them fled into the nearby bushes.
Buda, however, appealed to the government to deploy more security operatives to the area and to come to the aid of victims, saying “We have so far spent over N40,000 on my son’s treatment and the only support we received was N10,000 from the member representing our area in the state House of Assembly.
The victim, Abdullahi Buda - a father of three, said they were standing outside the mosque when the attackers came on three motorcycles.
“We were surprised because we don’t allow strangers into the village on motorcycles and before we knew it, they brought out riffles and started shooting at us.
“They shot me on the chest but I thank God, I am still alive and recuperating,” he said.
He said four persons, including a mentally challenged woman and a 10-year-old boy, were shot by the bandits but only three survived as the woman died shortly before arriving the hospital.
Abdullahi recalled that their symbiotic relationship went sour after they reported their (Fulani) activities to security operatives.
“They abducted some women from our area and we went to their settlement and asked their elders to intervene but to no avail and because of that, we reported the matter to security agents who came and arrested them.
“When they were released, they threatened to attack and kill us,” he added.
The father of the 10-year-old boy who is also recuperating at the hospital, Malam Sani, told Daily Trust Saturday that the boy was playing with his mates at Dandali (playing ground) when he was hit by a stray bullet on the chest because “We heard the bandits saying children and women should not be killed.”
He also solicited for financial support because they have exhausted their money including the N20,000 donation received from their lawmaker on medicines.
Sani said that the village has been deserted as people were afraid to come back despite the presence of security operatives.
He stated that nine houses and eight provision shops were burnt down by the assailants.
On his part, Aliyu Buda said he has not seen his wife and five children since the attack took place because “We all ran for safety, and immediately after the attack, we evacuated the victims, including my brother to the hospital. Since then, the whereabouts of my family is still unknown.
The spokesman of the Sokoto State Police Command, DSP Muhammad Sadiq, confirmed the attack, adding that the police were on the trail of the attackers.