Jibia: A week of bloodbath and what we expect of Government

It was exactly nineteen minutes past midnight, few moments into Thursday the 22^nd of August. I had gone to bed. My eyes were already closed and sleep was descending quietly. Somehow, unlike many people I don’t normally switch my hand phone at night. There are usually no calls during that time except when I initiate them. But who could this caller be? I asked myself as I picked my phone which was vibrating by the bedside. For the past several weeks there have been renewed security challenges in the rural areas of Batsari and western part of Jibia local Governments. This is a place where my maternal relations are spread. On my fathers’ side I have no relations in this area. My father hailed from Bugaje ward in the eastern part of Jibia local Government. Thus back and front, as Hausa speakers will put it, I am from Jibia Local Government. I wish I had relations in Niger Republic so that I can be visiting the neighbouring country from time to time like many settlers in my native Jibia town do. But I have none. The last time I visited Maradi, the nearest Nigerien town to Jibia was more than thirty years ago. 

So even as I stretched my hand to pick my inexpensive android phone, I thought it must be one of my relations calling. At times like this, they sleep during the day and spend their nights on guard. Of course, there is usually little they can do to confront the heavily armed bandits. To compound their problems, Governors of North western states met recently in Katsina and outlawed volunteers popularly known in the area as ‘yan sa kai’ which are the Northwest equivalent of civilian JTF in the North East. The most unfortunate thing is that the politicians did not provide any alternative. 

Another problem is the recent peace initiative in Zamfara state. Somehow His Excellency the President sat in Abuja watching a PDP Governor reconciled with bandits and like magic it began to work. People who have confessed killing hundreds are now free. To worsen the situation, the level of criminality in his own state of Katsina rose immediately, with none of himself, his Governor and their party raising doubts as to whether or not the opposition had a hand in the crimes in the first place. But whosoever is behind it does not seem to be their business, anyway. After all, the honourable Hajiya minister has observed that Nigerians are too many. 

In situations like this I usually call some of the villagers when I wake up at late hours of the night and I am always sure to get them. We shall talk for a few minutes before I go back to bed or do something else. They only call me at late hours when there is a criminal attack in their area. There is nothing I can do either. A Muslim will usually pray and I do. So this call must be from one of them, I thought. And I was right. It was one of my uncles. This one is younger than me but unlike me he did not have the privilege of going to the whiteman’s school. He is a farmer.

There was an ongoing attack in the nearby village of Zandam which is about two kilometers away, he told me. They could hear the sound of gunshots from their position. There was no need to call the people in Zandam in that situation. The DPO had already been informed but only for the sake of it. His men were to come about five hours later from Jibia which was only ten kilometers away. We lamented and prayed over the phone before hanging up. I then made two unsuccessful calls to Jibia and waited for a sleep that had gone away for the night. Some thirty minutes later when I called him he told me in a very low tone that the bandits were already in his village and immediately switched off. 

But Zandam was not the first town to be attacked in the renewed violence in Jibia LGA. A day earlier, another village called Tsayau was attacked and four of its dwellers killed. There is something interesting about Tsayau. Literally, you can say there are two Tsayaus separated by a stream. One of them is our own Tsayau in Jibia LGA. The other Tsayau is in Niger Republic. Over the past few years, Nigerian Tsayau has been attacked several times, but Nigerien Tsayau has never experienced a bandit attack due to the vigilance of the Nigerien security forces. 

A day before the Tsayau attack, there was another attack in Garin Gado about six kilometers out of Jibia. Wherever they go, the bandits rape, maim, kill and take away animals and in many cases women with them. They also burn assets especially cars and motorcycles.

The next time I spoke with uncle was in the morning. But even before we spoke, I got information from my cousin in Zandam that one Sani was killed during the night attack. His offence? The criminals asked for money and he showed them a fifty Naira note which he confessed was the last money he had. They shot him. In another household they attempted to take a small child and the mother stood in their way. They shot her and her husband and left them in blood. They were taken to hospital after the bandits left the village. They took away many cows whose exact number could not be verified by my Zandam sources. But most of the animals are ones used for farming.

My uncle confirmed to me when we spoke later that fifteen cows were rustled from his village. No woman was taken by the bandits.

The next night I received another call. The bandits struck again. This time it was Mallamawa fadi ka gurje a distance of less than ten kilometers west Zandam. By the time they left, 13 women forcefully left with them, in addition to the ones they raped and dumped. Animals were taken and property burnt down.

The next day (Friday) in the afternoon some cattle rustlers were intercepted by the Nigerian Army around Gurbin Baure along Jibia – Gusau highway. Two of the cattle rustlers were killed and three arrested. The animals were taken back. This is probably what made the larger gang to launch a reprisal attack on traders returning from Jibia market on Gurbin Baure - Shimfida road off the highway. This took place on Sunday. The Army came to the rescue but ran out of ammunitions and had to retreat. Eight vehicles, three of them belonging to the Nigerian Army were burnt to ashes by the bandits. The deaths and injuries are better imagined. But the Police later announced that only three people were injured. 

As I m writing this piece, another village Tsambe in Jibia Local Government was attacked last night.

But Jibia is not the only place currently under attack. Batsari, Safana and other local governments in Katsina are having their own share of the renewed attacks. For example, on Monday the 26^th of August, Wurma in Kurfi Local Government was attacked. More than two hundred bandits speaking with Zamfara accent arrived the village at around 11pm and spent more than three hours searching from house to house and room to room. They later kidnapped 42 people, 41 of them women and girls. This is in addition to the property they took along with them and the one they destroyed.

President Buhari seems to underestimate the level of crime taking place in deep areas of Katsina State. Even people like me who are not security experts know that the approach of Federal Government cannot work. How can a Commander-in-chief who has ordered his Army to rout criminals wherever they are allow a Governor to provide a hideout for the same criminals in the name of reconciliation? As things are, Zamfara state serves as the base for the bandits where they resort to after launching attacks in Katsina state. 

But even without Zamfara, the Federal Government’s method of sending the Army to guard the highways and Air force to target bandits’ locations is another blunder. This has resulted in the highways being heavily guarded and the deep areas exposed to criminality. And because both the Army and Air Force have no knowledge of the area and are apparently not using any intelligence report, damages have reportedly been inflicted on innocent people with criminals left untackled.

If sincere advice is anything to go by, Mr. President should take certain necessary steps. One, he should consider the North West security as a priority and personally take charge. Two, Mr. President should abrogate the peace accord in Zamfara and use the full force of Federal Government to bring an end to banditry. Three, if an end is to be seen to this menace, civilian JTF must be established consisting of youth from the communities affected. Our communities are ready to provide the young people to be trained to work with regular security forces. The method of leaving soldiers to operate only on highways should be past.

Facts about banditry/kidnapping in Jibia/Batsari Local Government areas

When we talk about security challenges in Jibia and Batsari LGAs, many people do not seem to understand what we are talking about. A good number of people believe that we are some elements sponsored to spoil the good name of Buhari administration. Another misconception is that security operatives are working round the clock to bring this problem to an end. 

These are some facts people should know about the picture of what is currently on the ground in those areas.

1. There is no single known foreigner involved in banditry, kidnapping or cattle rustling in our areas.
2. Many of the bandits, their leaders and informants are well known to the locals.
3. Locals shut their mouths to save their lives. When I heard that His Excellency the President was going to meet with local victims I thought it was going to be one on one with the villagers in the absence of state government officials and local security chiefs, as that is the only way he would hear the dirty truth from his local people.
4. In some areas, heads of thieves are paid some fixed amounts by farmers to allow them carry out farming activities on their farmlands and protect them from other gangs.
5. The peace initiative in Zamfara state only aggravated insecurity in Katsina. It is widely believed that Zamfara state now serves as a hideout for the bandits from where they come into Katsina state, launch attacks and go back.
6. Most of the time security forces arrive scenes of attack long after the attackers have left. There is nothing like 24 hour surveillance to forestall bandits’ attacks.
7. Security forces are only visible on highways. For example, Katsina – Jibia road which 42 km long has 17 checkpoints of armed soldiers, police, customs and immigration men. In deep areas where crimes take place almost on daily basis there is no presence of security personnel.

My appeal to people like us who have confidence in PMB’s leadership and especially those close to him is to mount pressure on His Excellency to take consistent steps to bring this major problem to an end. Peace is like fuel. Once it is available the masses do not care whether it is locally refined, imported or made available by whatever other means by Government.

Munguno and the ban on “street urchins”

Some days ago, a friend forwarded to me the summary of a law said to be signed by the Katsina state Governor, His Excellency Alhaji Aminu Bello Masari on the regulation of almajirci in Katsina state. The law tagged “RESPONSIBLE PARENTING/ALMAJIRI RIGHT PROTECTION EDIT” seeks to protect the child from abuse, at least according to its authors.

After the definitions, the Katsina edict provides for a commission or a department to be headed by a director to run as an independent department. The law prohibits any parent from sending their child to a Qur’anic school if he is less than 12 years old. The parent shall make provision for decent clothing and feeding for the child while the Qur’anic teacher shall provide accommodation. The child must not come from outside Katsina state unless the teacher undertakes to take his full responsibility. In addition, no child should be taken to a Qur’anic school outside the state unless he is at least 12 years of age. 

The Government on its part shall provide medical facilities to all children in registered Qur’anic schools and make sure that they are registered under the NHIS scheme. Assistance of unspecified amounts shall be provided to all registered Qur’anic schools by the Government from time to time, according to the document.

The move by the Katsina state Government, I would like to believe, was done in good faith. Governor Masari deserves our commendation for it. He has abandoned the futile waiting for Northern Governors Forum or the Central Government to take a decision. I, however, had my humble observations which I didn’t want to make public immediately for two reasons. One, to avoid the wrong notion that I m against everything coming from Government, especially Katsina state Government. Only days ago I criticized the Governor for his approach to security. Two, and more importantly, to wait and see the details of what the Government has in mind.

But just as I was waiting, I saw the National Security adviser on my TV screen making comments about what he called ‘street urchins’. Hear him, ‘The group I spoke about on illiteracy is the almajiri. Ultimately, government will have to proscribe the almajiri phenomena, because we cannot continue to have street urchins, children roaming around, only for them in a couple of years or decades to become a problem to society.’

I was dumbfounded. First, the Federal Government has a big ministry and a litany of agencies in charge of education. It is their responsibility to define what illiteracy is and who is an illiterate. There has been a lot of work, in the past, done by the Federal Ministry of Education and universities like Bayero University and states like Kano on the interfacing of Qur’anic schools with formal schools. But instead of the retired General to refer to the right quarters for the right definition, he decided to opine that anybody who has not gone through the western-style school is an illiterate. The unfortunate thing is that he is in the office he is.

But that may not even be a major problem. Many people understand illiteracy the way the General does. What ordinary Nigerians like me want to hear from the National security advisor and see on the ground are the actions they are taking on the spate of kidnappings, killings and animal rustling bedevilling the North. What are his office and the larger ministry of defence doing about these and about herders moving their cattle into farmlands and destroying farmers’ crops? Even their worst enemy knows that almajirai are not responsible for these crimes. Why will the security team of this administration like to go for soft targets instead of addressing the major security challenges facing the country?

By the way, if these children who are mainly of poor background abandon almajirci where does the NSA want them to go and get the right western education? Certainly since their parents cannot afford private schools the only place they can go are Government schools. Does the NSA know the condition of Government basic schools? Does he know how crowded they are and that majority of children who go to Government schools cannot write a correct paragraph after completing their secondary schools in twelve years? 

The products of Qur’anic schools that many of us deride are better than the product of Government basic schools. At least at the end of the day the former can recite the Qur’an the way it is taught in those schools.

Please do not misquote me. I m not saying all is well with Qur’anic schools. There are big problems with our Qur’anic schools, but most of them are part of our greater problem. Northern Muslims have not been able to change our ways in most of the things we inherited from the past. Our method of farming, for example, is as done precolonially. This applies to both crop and animal farming. Our emirs still spend most of their days sitting in the palace as done five hundred years ago and have not changed their approach to cope with new challenges facing their people. The teaching methods in our traditional Qur’anic schools have not undergone any change for over a hundred years.

The problem of begging associated with children in Qur’anic schools is only one of such problems. The last time Bishop Matthew Kukah wanted to establish almajiri centres all of us rose to condemn it. But it ended there. Can’t we even do what he wanted to do, even if we cannot modify it? What is the matter with us that we can only condemn and praise but cannot go a step further to take any positive action to solve a common problem?

The major concern of majority of Northern Muslim elites about Qur’anic schools is the begging aspect but not the promotion of Qur’anic education. I would thus like to call on Governors like Masari who have concern for Qur’anic education to go further and make policies that will improve the contents of our Qur’anic schools and look into more ways they can prevent our children from abuse.

As for the NSA, I would advise him to concentrate on consolidating the gains so far made on security and liaise with Education ministry, state Governors and religious leaders on matters of Quranic schools.