‘Let’s Kill All their Men...’
As I was taken through the different classrooms that have become a temporary shelter for hundreds of men, women and children who looked like refugees from a war zone, I could not but reflect on how a general climate of insecurity has practically turned Nigeria into one huge camp for the internally displaced. And the more the traumatised people of Tabanni, Allikiru, Gaidan Kare, Kursa, Dankilawa, Ruwan Tsamiya and Gidan Barebari villages in Rabah Local Government of Sokoto State shared their tragic experiences with me on Tuesday, the more convinced I became that President Muhammadu Buhari needs to do more than meaningless preachments on how his “security teams crack their brains to put an end to this horrendous violence.”
When last week the governor of Sokoto, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal spoke on the tragic incident in his state, he said something I found rather disturbing and made me to resolve to visit the state: “We buried 32 people yesterday but when we were leaving the area, they brought additional seven bodies...these marauders invaded Tabanni village, killing and maiming people. These marauders never took away even a chicken; they only came to kill and left.”
That sounded like an invasion of the bandits that have for some years practically seized power in Zamfara State and I found it scary, especially since I am aware of how much efforts both Tambuwal and his Kebbi State counterpart, Alhaji Abubakar Bagudu have invested in preventing a spill-over of the Zamfara lawlessness that could open a new flank of general insecurity in the north-west. Almost certain that there would be more to the killings, I left for Sokoto on Monday but because the flight was delayed for several hours in Abuja and we arrived the city late, my journey to the affected area was shifted to Tuesday morning.
While nine communities were affected in the invasion that has led the villagers to flee to the district headquarters in Gandi where I arrived shortly after 8am on Tuesday, it was at Tabanni that the tragic drama played out. According to Muhammadu Mani, a farmer who survived the brutal onslaught, it was around 3.30pm when the invaders arrived their village in a convoy of about 50 motobikes each carrying three persons, all of them wielding guns and other assault weapons. “They cordoned off the village by blocking the three entry and exit points before they started shooting with some of them going from house to house. Many of them were in Army uniforms and were Fulani men.”
Incidentally, majority of the victims are themselves Fulani. Asked if the bandits were on a revenge mission, Mani answered in the affirmative, confirming what Senator Adamu Aliero, a former two-term governor of the neighbouring Kebbi State, said in plenary last week. According to Aliero, “the bandits sent two people to the village to buy food for them and the villagers observed that the emissaries were armed and they were interrogated by the villagers who found the bandits to be similar to the ones operating in Zamfara. The villagers apprehended and executed the two emissaries.”
Mani’s version is not somewhat different from Aleiro’s except claiming that only one of the two emissaries was killed and that the bandits, whose camps were located in the adjoining forests, had become a menace since they were always demanding ransom payments from the villagers. Interestingly, although some women and children lost their lives to the massacre, they appeared more like collateral damages than any intention by the executioners to take their lives. “We could hear these men saying, ‘Let us kill all their men and see whether their women alone can bear children’”, recounted Mani.
Malam Ali Na-Huro who was working on his farm when the attack occurred said he “passed more than 30 corpses, while many others fell into the river surrounding our village” as he and others ran for their lives. But the Tabanni village head was not so lucky. According to Mani, the traditional ruler had been receiving guests at the time “but when he heard gunshots, he and his guests ran out and tried to escape through the river at the back of the village but they were pursued and shot dead right inside the water.” The deceased traditional ruler has been replaced by his son.
The bandits came well prepared with flame throwers with which they razed the thatched houses, even as some of the villagers who tried to escape were pursued on bikes and killed. From the accounts shared by many of the victims, the bandits were used to collecting taxes and demanding ransom and they were being paid until lately when some of the villagers began to put up a resistance with the help of Vigilante. This resulted in the death of some of the bandits who appear evidently very organized. A few weeks ago, for instance, the head of Tabanni vigilante was going to Gandi to lodge a report when he was waylaid and gunned down on the way. From the account of Mani and others, an informant for the bandits gave the vigilante man away.
While a primary school provides a temporary shelter for hundreds of people, many of the victims who have relatives in Gandi have moved in with their kins. Yarin Gandi, the district head, Alhaji Muhammadu Machido had gone to Sokoto to receive Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who was visiting on Tuesday both to commiserate with them and at the same time commission the 1.5 million metric tonnes per annum ($350 million) BUA Kalambaina cement plant of Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu.
Meanwhile, there are serious concerns among the people about the security challenge in Rabah local government. Abdulkadir Gandi, a former civil servant in the state who also worked with UNICEF on girl-child education campaign before he retired to the village to take up farming said the insecurity in the area will have far-reaching implications. “Those villages under attack represent the food basket of this area so if the people can’t farm again, and many have deserted their farms, then we will have a serious problem” said Gandi.
Aleiro’s submission at the Senate drew attention to the security challenge. He said the chairman of the local government and the village head alerted the law enforcement agencies to an advance notice sent by the bandits. “Security was provided for a period of five days after which they were withdrawn...the bandits moved in and started killing indiscriminately using AK-47 rifles. The situation now is that most of the villagers have left their homes out of fear and so many are still stranded in the bush, not to mention the injured ones still at the hospital and others rendered homeless” said Aliero.
During the debate in the House of Representatives on the same issue, Hon. Aminu Shehu Shagari disclosed that “the armed bandits issued threat letters to the villagers warning them to pay some millions or risk being attacked prior to the invasion by about 100 of the armed bandits on motorcycles using guns. They also used improvised explosive devices suspected to be petrol bombs in carrying out their dastardly act”. In his own contribution, the House Minority Whip, Hon Yakubu Barde Umar lamented that as Nigeria becomes one big killing field, the security chiefs are only “cracking their brains”, in an apparent derision of President Buhari’s statement.
That Nigeria has lost what Max Weber described as “the monopoly of violence” to non-state armed actors is no longer in doubt. On Tuesday, another gang of armed bandits reportedly attacked Malikawa Village in Gidan Goga District, Maradun Local Government area of Zamfara State. “In today’s attack at Malikawa village, Gidan Goga district, Maradun local government, Zamfara State, gunmen entered the village and started shooting,” Amnesty Int’l Nigeria tweeted. “This is happening five days after armed bandits attacked the same village and sacked seven villages under the district. People in this area now live in fear of armed bandits who wantonly kill or kidnap for ransom. We call on Nigerian authorities to stop the killings now!”