Banditry

By Muhammad Sabiu

Men of the Nigeria Police Force have successfully apprehended a health worker who was alleged to have been providing medical assistance to bandits in the Danmusa Local Area of Katsina State.

The 34-year-old health worker, identified as Murtala Umar, owns a patent medicine shop in the LGA.

A report by the Daily Post newspaper has indicated that Murtala had been working for the bandits operating in that area, and they always came to him whenever they needed any medical attention.

SP Isah Gambo, the Katsina State Police Command spokesman, who paraded Murtala at their headquarters on Monday, said the suspect had confessed to offering assistance to bandits. 

Confessing the allegations made against him, Murtala was quoted as saying, “I studied at the College of Health and Technology in Kankia, and I manage a chemist at Tashar Yar Alewa. The bandits, from time to time, come to my shop carrying guns to seek my help concerning the health of their members, and they pay me in return.

“I used to oblige them for fear of being attacked, but I am regretting my actions now.”

By Sumayyah Auwal Ishaq

At least 30 persons have been killed by unidentified gunmen in Madamai attack in Kaura Local Government Area, Kaduna State. The incident was confirmed by the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr. Samuel Aruwan.

According to Aruwan, “some houses were set ablaze by the attackers at one end of the village. The troops put out the fire at three of the burning houses, and rescued six locals from the infernos”

He further states that “Governor El-Rufai has stated that the Kaduna State Government will bear the full cost of injured victims’ treatment”

By Muhammad Sabiu

An angry mob have set ablaze the residence of Sokoto State Commissioner for Careers and Security Matters, Garba Moyi, in Isa Local Government Area.

According to reports, the incident, which occurred Monday evening, led to the vandalisation of vehicles of a traditional ruler who was also accused of abandoning his people.

ASP Sanusi Abubakar, the Sokoto Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO), who confirmed the incident, stated that“no life was involved, and as soon as the investigation is completed, the details will be made known to the public.”

He added that people of the area should remain calm and advised them to cooperate with security agencies in maintaining peace and order.

Also, a Sokoto resident, identified as Abubakar Isa, also confirmed the incident. He said the mob were angry at the Commissioner due to bandits’ incessant attacks.

He was quoted as saying, “Some of them even believe that the commissioner has abandoned his own people. The attacks are becoming rampant these days, despite the efforts they said they are making to address it. There is no day that a person is not kidnapped or killed in Isa or Sabon Birni.”

By Hussaina Sufyan Ahmed

Kano is one of the states that records fewer security challenges in the northwestern part of Nigeria. The relative security in the state is an indication that not all northern states experience insecurity like the current happenings of kidnapping, banditry and armed robbery, as seen in Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina. However, this calm is coming to an end considering the most recent menace of stabbings in the state.

Recently, people have been victims of phone snatching in Kano. This has become general mayhem in the state in that people do not take out their gadgets when going out on night strolls, and for some students, no more night out strolls anymore.

This problem is gradually becoming a national one. Families continue to bereave as their loved ones are brought to their end in their pool of blood due shed by snatchers of phones, laptops, wallets and other portable valuables.

According to the Daily Post, on July 4, 2021, an event occurred at the bridge undergoing construction close to Kantin Kwari market. The phone snatching brought about the death of a man called Umar Muhammad, staff at the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.

The most recent victim was Muhammad Sulaiman, a newly-wed schoolteacher stabbed to death in front of his wife around the Sharada industrial area on September 20, 2021.

These happenings continue to occur despite the various safety measure of the government, such as Karota agents, vigilante groups, others. Thus, people wonder what these security personnel do daily.

Phone snatching is usually carried out at night and around isolated pathways. In rare cases, it happens in broad daylight. The crimes occur in places like under the bridges, lone paths that lead out of POS points, ATM stations, children parks, corners of streets and even on roads without lamp-lights.

For the above reasons, security experts suggest some preventive measures that include:

When walking, stay very conscious of who is trailing you and of the environment around you. During this period, one needs to be very aware of who is behind, beside or ahead of them. Often, when at a crowded place, crime culprits hardly succeed or they get apprehended for it.

Another precautionary measure is to have an alternative phone which is very cheap and look simple.

By Muhammad Sabiu

In what would be tagged as a great success in the fight against terrorism in the northwestern part of Nigeria, the police in Katsina State have successfully apprehended four persons for allegedly supplying fuel and one other for supplying bread to terrorists; also referred to as “bandits.”

Gambo Isa, Katsina State police spokesperson, told the press that the bread supplier, arrested on Saturday, was a national of Niger Republic.

The other suspects supplying fuel have been identified as Shafi’u Haruna, 25, of Anguwan Nakaba village in Sabuwa LGA; Sani Lawal, 28, of Magamar Jibia for transporting fuel in a Volkswagen Passat car with registration No. KMC 198 XB; and Abdulrashid Garba, 50, of Daddara village, Jibia LGA, for conveying fuel in his Volkswagen Golf III wagon with registration No. AR 719 KTN.

Mr Isa added, “Also arrested was Tigal Haruna, 57, of Kofar Guga Quarters, Katsina, conveying fuel in his Passat motor vehicle with registration number FC 977 LKJ. Nemesis caught up with the suspects when they were arrested long Katsina – Jibia road while going into the forest.

“In the course of investigation, suspects confessed to be selling the fuel at fringes of the forest, contrary to Executive order and other extant laws of the Federation. The investigation is ongoing,”

Recall that the Katsina State Government has issued an executive order banning some activities in the state in an effort to curtail the killings and kidnappings that have, over the years, beset the state.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Reports coming from northwestern Nigeria have stated that angry people in a Sokoto community, Tangaza, took the bull by the horns, traced suspected bandits in detention and subsequently lynched them.

This is coming barely 12 hours after the bandits launched an attack on the community, which left two persons killed and two others abducted.

Premium Times reports that, first, it was vigilante members armed with locally-made guns and cutlasses in conjunction with the police that went after the bandits, killed two and apprehended about four others.

After their arrest, they were put behind the police net.

The state’s police spokesperson, Sanusi Abubakar, confirmed that in an attack meant to cart away foodstuffs from the community, the bandits launched a raid Friday night.

They were also said to have kidnapped two persons, who were later killed.

Angered by this attack and kidnap, youths in the community planned to join the police in an effort to crush the suspected bandits.

They followed them and successfully killed two and the other four arrested, who were detained in a police station and killed by the angry youths.

The youths insisted that the bandits must be killed, otherwise they would torch the police station.

A resident said, “The youths were angry and despite pleas from the DPO and the local government chairman, they insisted that if the policemen did not kill the bandits in their presence, they would burn down the police station.”

Sokoto State is also one of the northwestern states badly hit by the activities of bandits.

Ten students of Bethel Baptist College, Kaduna, were released this evening. Two were sick and eight let go on the magnanimity of their kidnappers.

Details later.

By AF Sessay

The data you don’t talk about comes back to haunt you!  And when it does come, it comes violently. Many years of corruption, nepotism and neglect of the basic rights of citizens quickly metamorphose into all forms of crime. While government inaction is not and cannot always be the cause of citizen-on-citizen crime, yet research suggesting the correlation between corruption in public places and crimes on the streets should not be taken with a pinch of salt.  

This is also true for the failings in high places and the ugly effect this has on battlefields. Because beyond artillery and manpower, there is a great need for strategy, intelligence, consistent supply of food, effective and top-notch communication and above all, sincerity of purpose. Unfortunately, in the situation where the cankerworms of embezzlement latch and sucks blood out of any of these in the security value, the figurative blood usually becomes pools of real blood. So, when it lingers, question the data. Who does what, and where are the numbers to say they are really doing it? 

Nigeria currently stands on a tripod of corruption, injustice and hope (no matter the percentage of that hope). 

Corruption keeps the corrupt healthy and well-nourished to perpetrate more acts of corruption with hands, heads, tongues and minds.

Injustice keeps the people blind to the truth. It is an essential spear in the hands of many African leaders and former leaders to strike and blind the advocates for truth, make deaf the masses, and cripple the nation.

As for Hope, it is always a ‘good’ magic wand, or opium, or weapon (depending on who is defining it) to mobilize the people for elections, discourage them from revolting and contain them till the next election.

On top of this tripod rotates the head of change. In every season, every decade, every century, there is always one head dressed with a different colour to match the epoch and circumstance. The change of this era is the change from a corruption-ridden nation to a corruption-free state.

Now, how many people are not corrupt so that they can serve as models of integrity for the corrupt? It seems this is a difficult question; let’s turn it the other way round. How many people are corrupt and ready to serve as models of corruption to others? The statistics here are too terrifying to betray the calculus of any optimist on the future of Nigeria and the African continent.

While the masses shy away from their responsibility to come out and spearhead this journey to a reformed Nigeria, the corrupt are on the other side of the divide, ever determined to embolden their fingerprint on the face of civilization! No wonder they get most of the honours, most of the honorary degrees, most of the titles, most of the praises, most youths ready to die for the “good cause”, most of the best universities for their children…

Are you surprised? Why should they not be determined and willing to sacrifice their wealth and might to fight for the continuation of corruption? See! Listen! They were born in it, bred and nourished in it, educated in it, employed in it, voted in it and possibly wish to die in it.

They are not scared of sitting on the corpses of millions of their brothers if that is the only throne they can find to sustain their Kingdom of Corruption. They are very okay with the fact that the millions awaiting their grave permit languish and die in scarcity, adversity, poverty, obscurity – you name it. This is nothing compared to losing a single day in their lives to integrity and probity.

They will fight, hire the best lawyers, get the cruellest thugs, sponsor many false reports to raise public ire and angst against the people who seek to “unjustly” drive them from their ‘paradise.’ They will make many human sacrifices. They will even invent new smart devices of iniquity. Don’t underestimate their ingenuity when it comes to protecting corruption. Never underestimate them.

Alas, how long will they fight before they run out of vim? How long will they endure against the harsh winds of change? How long will they live to eat the billions they have amassed over seasons and seasons of rot, corruption and cruelty in this farmland of the world. How long will they procure mass graves for hundreds of citizens so as to exercise their will to power? They call our youths to their graves while their duplexes and children and girlfriends enjoy the loots of Nigeria in Dubai and London.

They will fight, but the people will also fight back. And as far as I know, no Empire or force or fight is powerful enough to stop the might of the people when they are determined for reform.

Do you want to join this fight? In which army will you prefer to fight? If you must join the side of those who want reform in the polity, then you must do so while you are well armed with patience and firm belief in God then the leader’s ability to bring change. Don’t be carried away by the plots and ploys of the corrupt. Correct when mistakes are made, tell the truth where and when needed, be just and bold in your assessment but never be a recruit (though subconsciously) in the army of the corrupt!

AF Sessay writes from Lagos. He can be reached via amarasesay.amir@gmail.com.

By Garba Sidi

Attitudes are fundamental to understanding social perceptions because they strongly influence our perception of people we meet, the people we live with, the groups we join or avoid, and colleagues in our various communities. In addition, attitudes are essential in organising information about other people. Thus, as we interact with different individuals, objects or situations from time to time and in different environments, we tend to form specific attitudes just as others form attitudes about us.

As psychologists said, our attitudes are formed firstly from family, society and schools. These three places are where children shape their attitudes, either negative or positive. Children will not pass without family, so that means the family is the first chain for shaping a child’s attitude. Whatever role the family play is how their children will grow and develop cognitively.

Family combine parents, sisters and brothers in nuclear family and grandfather, grandmother and uncles are included in the extended family. Each one of those members has a role to play in shaping a child attitude positively and negatively. Family is like a tree; any branch and leaf have a role in contributing to the survival of that tree. Failure of one branch or leaf will cause damage to the entire tree. That’s how the wrong role of one member will cause an unwanted attitude to the children of that family.

Sadly, nowadays family ignore their responsibility and substitute it with hatred, showing concerns to only biological sons and daughters. Even some parents leave their sons and daughters to live like sheep without shepherds. This careless behaviour that emerges today is hazardous, and it’s the central foundation of the problems we indulged in today.

Unfortunately, frustration is what leads the majority of children to form all these kinds of undesirable attitudes. Some children find themselves in a family full of challenges like hatred toward the mother by one’s stepmother, father not taking responsibility for his children, etc.

All these will lead a child to form unwanted behaviour after indulged in frustration. No doubt, our society is ravaged by kidnappers, sexual immorality, drunkenness and armed robbery. Children lack a sense of duty with lofty aspirations of becoming rich overnight to fulfil their needs. They engage in cultism and occultism, a fastest ritual way of getting rich and are subjected to unbearable pains and suffering.

May Allah save us, amin.

Garba Sidi can be reached at sidihadejia@yahoo.com.

By Muhammad Sabiu

Reports coming from Zamfara State, in Nigeria’s northwest, have indicated that at least seventy-five students, who were kidnapped at Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, have finally regained their freedom after spending twelve days in captivity.

The released students were received by Governor Muhammed Bello Matawalle at the state’s Government House in Gusau.

Confirming the release, Nigeria’s national television, popularly known as NTA, posted on Facebook that, “The seventy-five students of Government Day Secondary School Kaya in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State abducted about two weeks ago regained freedom.”

This is coming amidst a military onslaught against the terrorists operating in the region, who are notorious for killing and kidnapping.

The Matawalle-led Zamfara government had since taken measures to halt the violent activities of the terrorists by intercepting the supply of foodstuffs and petroleum products to their respective camps.

The military onslaught has reportedly forced a number of them to flee their camps amidst suffering heavy casualties.