By Abdelghaffar Amoka Abdelmalik

I love ABU and the used-to-be lovely Zaria; But is it time to run away?

After submitting the final copies of my PhD thesis in March 2012, a friend and I conversed about my plans after the PhD program. “I am leaving back to Nigeria in few days, resume my job, get married, and start living the Nigerian life”, I told her. And she was like, it appeared I had got everything planned out. And I said I couldn’t find anything to keep me back in the UK. Then about a year later, I got a postdoc research fellowship in Norway.

Immediately after my postdoc in 2015, I was looking forward to coming back home. I had this picture of a laboratory I want to set up in my university to perform impactful research from this part of the world. Maybe I was crazy. But for the five years three months that I spent in Europe, I never saw myself living there for long, but how I could use the experience of the few years to add value to the world of research from my country.

But after the kidnapping of my friend’s family last month, for the first, I started to ask myself if my decision to return to the country was the right one. And last night, I heard gunshots from my room before midnight. I knew something was wrong, but I could not figure out what it was and where. So I could not sleep well. Then, after waking up in the morning, I got a call that the same terrorists they choose to call bandits strike in Zaria again, but this time at Zango-Shanu and went away with four victims.

Criminals use to operate while hidden. But these terrorists take their time to break into houses and abduct their victims unchallenged. The police can’t dare do anything to them because they have superior arms and unlimited ammunition. One would expect special forces capable of repelling these terrorists to be put in Zaria due to these frequent occurrences, but nothing like that.

The government seems to have given up, and we are left on our own. The Governor insists no one should pay a ransom but no provision to prevent the kidnapping of anyone. So you have two choices when you have a victim with them; either you pay ransom to get them released after torture, or you leave the victim to die with them.

I closed my eyes, and I still see the picture of the state of my friend’s wife and kids when the bandits released them, and I cried. I am still wondering why these innocent young children and their mother should pass through that horrible experience. The system has failed them. The country has failed them. Now we live in fear. The government has failed us.

A distant cousin in Canada called me a few weeks ago and asked about my plans for my family with this insecurity that is getting worse by the day. I was dribbling around, and he said: how can you make an impact in an environment you are not safe? You can only make an impact if you are alive and free. That statement refused to leave my head.

You can’t sleep well at night for fear of the terrorists. So, how do you concentrate during the day to be productive to make your dream impact? Our children can’t go to school. The state government has closed down all the state-controlled schools for fear of kidnapping but no structure to prevent kidnapping the same children from their houses. So, what has he done?

The kids are living a caged life. You can’t even allow them to play outside talk less of sending them on an errand outside the house for fear of insecurity. We got President Goodluck Jonathan out for Boko Haram; President Buhari came in, and kidnapping was added to the list of the insecurity challenges. It has become a big business. The business CEOs sit in their houses while getting sophisticated arms for their boys for the kidnapping operation. They are ruthless, and of course, the informants are among us. There seems to be no much intelligent service to get rid of this challenge. At least not from the kidnapping of my friend’s wife and kids.

With all these challenges, the political leaders, including those claiming to be fighting corruption, are getting richer while the people are getting poorer. For example, a former recharge card seller, now an aide, has billions of naira in his accounts that he claimed are “gifts” from people. But he didn’t get such “gifts” when he was a  recharge card seller. Aside from workers at CBN, NNPC, DPR, etc., other workers struggle to survive with that thing called salary. And unfortunately, most of the victims are from families struggling to survive, but the informants perceive them as rich.

People are shouting why the Doctors that the country spent a lot to train are leaving. But, with the level of unemployment, economic hardship, and insecurity, will you stay and submit your life to banditry if you have a choice to leave the country?

The political leaders surround themselves with security personnel. They can run to any country of their choice if they think their lives and immediate family are unsafe while we are left for the bandits.

I had so much optimism in this country, but I am not sure any longer. Should we continue to live this life of fear and uncertainty? I never thought of the idea of relocating to another country till last month when those poor little kids and their mother were abducted for 40 days.

I had two chances and came back because I believed in Nigeria and wanted to make an impact. Will I return if I have the 3rd chance?

I still remember that prominent MKO Abiola’s interview on TV during the June 12 crisis, where he stated this famous quote: he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.

Don’t hesitate to run if you have the slightest opportunity.

Abdelghaffar Amoka Abdelmalik writes from Zaria and can be reached through aaabdelmalik@gmail.com.

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One thought on “Banditry and Kidnapping: Dangers academics in Zaria face”
  1. I am not celebrating the death of senator Na Allah’s son or the attack on NDA, but to be candid now that this mess that they fail to tackle is touching them. Maybe they will do something about the situation of the country.
    May our one and only country win the fight against insecurity.

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