Ring True By Yemi Adebowale Phone 08054699539 Email: yemi.adebowale@thisdaylive.com
For those who have not been following the story, this first bit of information will be useful. Ali Kachalla is the leader of the main gang terrorising Zamfara State in particular and other parts of the North-west. He has been doing this for almost five years. This Fulani militia leader, based in Dansadau, has the blood of hundreds of innocent people on his hands. Kachalla enjoys a free rein in Zamfara State and beyond. He goes about, unhindered, killing, maiming and kidnapping for money. Everybody in the state knows Kachalla has his major camp in the notorious Kuyambana forest (Maru Local Government Area) from where attacks are launched on other parts of Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Katsina states. Security agents know this. Governor Bello Matawalle knows this. Unfortunately, concrete steps have not been taken to checkmate him. The military, Police and DSS pretend to be unaware of his location. Perhaps, they are waiting for “clear instructions” from President Muhammadu Buhari before moving against Kachalla.
This outlaw has an estimated 200 fighters stationed in the Kuyambana forest, all armed with AK-47. His armed men outnumber those of other terrorists in the North-west. Last month, Kachalla masterminded the downing of the fighter jet of the Nigerian Air Force near Kabaru village, about 15 kilometres west of Dansadau town. There were no repercussions. That tells you how powerful Kachalla has become. This terrorist, in his thirties, has become a law unto himself. Daily, he whips residents of Dansadau who dare to oppose or hinder his lawlessness. The people persistently send ransom to him. Recently, when some people in the community blocked supply of food to his troops, Kachalla captured and inflicted pain on them. The fear of Kachalla is palpable in Dansadau.
In an attack on the community on July 23, Kachalla killed four villagers, abducted scores and set ablaze a military armoured personnel vehicle in the community, while the soldiers fled. On that occasion, the villagers were punished for reporting his movement to security agents. Kachalla also punished them for allegedly assisting security personnel to rescue the pilot whose fighter jet was shot down.
Daily, Kachalla kills and kidnaps Hausa farmers in Dansadau. He has cornered hundreds of plots of land from these people and uses them for his own cattle rearing. Kachalla’s cattle graze with ease on this conquered land in Maru LG. A resident of Dansadau remarked: “Kachalla’s settlements, consisting of several strings of thatched huts, is on Birnin Gwari side of the river. But, his large herd of cattle, manned by his heavily armed boys, is based in Zamfara State. As I’m talking to you, his boys can be found in Dandalla, Madada and Gobirawa Kwacha communities. The villages are all situated southeast of Dansadau town. They are all controlled by his armed men.”
Right in Matawalle’s backyard is another notorious Fulani militia leader, Dogo Gide, who controls the southern part of the Zamfara forest and further into Niger State. Matawalle knows the whereabouts of Gide and his boys. All the security agents know this location; yet, the militias still launch attacks unhindered. Dogo Gide’s gang also operates in Kaduna State. This team is suspected to have recently killed 18 people, including a police officer, in five communities in Chawai chiefdom, Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
Another terror kingpin enjoying free rein in Zamfara State is Halilu Sububu. His men are based in the Sububu forest located between Shinkafi and Maradun local government Areas. From the forest, they launch attacks on travelers on Sokoto-Gusau Road as well as villages in Sokoto and Zamfara states.
Dungun Muazu forest located in the Sabuwa Local Government Area of Katsina State is also home to hundreds of military-uniform-wearing terrorists who attack across the North-west. Here, there is no clear leader. Dogo Najaballah, who many thought was the leader of the bastards in Dungun Muazu forest, was killed few weeks back in a fight that broke out between his gang and a rival gang of bandits in the state over the marriage of a woman.
It is so painful watching these terrorists control territories, kill and maim citizens, in a country supposedly with a government. Many women have been widowed and children orphaned across the North-west by these guerrillas. Last Wednesday, the gang rampaging in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State abducted the father of the Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Nasiru Muazu Magarya. They also kidnapped the Speaker’s stepmother, uncle and four others in a raid on his community, Magarya, Zurmi LGA.
I will never forget how the terrorists based in Kadawa Village, in the same Zurmi LGA, butchered 93 people early last June. Residents of this Zamfara State village are still mourning their loved ones killed. Within three days last April – 20 to 22 – 80 people were killed by the terrorists and counter killings by Yan Sakai who defend Hausa farmers, in series of attacks in four villages – Gobirawa, Rini, Gora, and Madoti Dankule – in Bakura and Maradun LGAs.
In Zamfara State, the terrorists control vast areas in Maru, Dansadau, Zurmi, Shinkafi, Bungudu, Bakura and Maradun LGAs. In Katsina State, they control large land in Batsari, Jibia, Faskari, Sabuwa, Safana, Kankara, Danmusa, Dutsin-ma, Danja and Kurfi. Governor Bello Masari lamented when he met Army Chief, Faruk Yahaya, last Wednesday, saying: “10 out of the 34 Local Government Areas in Katsina state are under severe daily attack by bandits. These bandits kill, rape, injure the people, burn houses and rustle cattle.”
I’m shocked the Army, police, DSS and other security agencies are yet to invite leaders of these terrorists in the North-west for questioning. Our security agencies have not declared them wanted. They know them and the territories they control; yet, special squads are not after them. Even when President Buhari ordered that people carrying AK-47 should be dealt with, nothing happened. Of course, it was just a comical instruction from the President. The extremists are enjoying a free rein while security agencies look the other way. Clearly, there are things the Buhari government is not telling Nigerians about these terrorists and their leaders.
Members of the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the British parliament – Caroline Cox, Rowan Williams, David Alton, Mervyn Thomas and Ayo Adedoyin – were apt when they noted that Nigerians under President Buhari administration are at the mercy of non-state actors who unleash attacks on individuals and communities at will. They expressed their fears in a recent protest letter to the UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, citing a recent event where bandits shot down a Nigerian Air Force fighter jet.
“We fear that Nigerian citizens are now at the mercy of non-state actors who have been allowed to evolve and now have the capacity to shoot down a fighter jet, as has recently occurred in Kaduna. These non-state actors are currently unleashing terror at will, particularly in the North-East and North-West,” the letter said.
The world must not allow Nigeria to sink. These British Lawmakers must go beyond protest letters. They must hold Buhari accountable and put him under pressure to secure the lives of Nigerians. Perhaps, a push from outside would do the magic. I’m just hoping.
A Word for Mai Mala Buni
My dear Governor Mai Mala Buni, you have spent virtually the last 15 months in Abuja, working as the Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the All Progressives Congress, APC, at the expense of your main job as the elected governor of Yobe State. You need to be honest about your impact on the party in the last 15 months. Apart from successfully intimidating some PDP governors to join the APC, you have nothing tangible to show in terms of achievements.
The APC remains a divided house, with the CPC, ANPP and New PDP legs permanently at daggers drawn. Besides, majority of the founders of the APC see you as an agent of destruction, out to terminate the APC. Of course, you were not there when the APC was formed. I guess that is why you, a sitting governor is insisting on running the show for the APC as National Chairman, even when it is obvious that it will destroy the APC. My advice to you this morning is a straight forward one: Resign honourably and let the APC be. You have no business being the party’s National Chairman.
I am also surprised that you said governance was not suffering in your beloved Yobe State because of your APC job. My dear governor Yobe, you have simply abandoned your people. This is the truth that must be told. How can a man elected governor be this cruel to the electorates? You once said you visit Yobe at least three times in a month, in defence against the accusation of desertion. This is preposterous. Were you voted to spend just few days in a month in Yobe State? Obviously, there is no way these two jobs can be combined. They are both tasking. Project Yobe is now suffering because Buni is spending more time on project APC. Huge files are always on your table in Damaturu waiting for attention. The other day when Boko Haram attacked Geidam, you were not even available for condolence visit to the traumatised people. The Yobe APC stakeholders were right to demand your impeachment because of your “unavailability in the state to discharge your constitutional duties as governor.”
The Chairman, Yobe APC Stakeholders, Hussain Muhammad, said recently: “Buni has abandoned the state and only visits once in a month. It has become expedient to draw the attention of the public, especially the state House of Assembly, to the aberration of having a governor who is non-functional. Buni was not elected as APC’s Acting National Chairman, but as Yobe State governor and he swore to obey the constitution. It is our position that he had become a self-serving governor, who failed and betrayed his people when they needed him the most.
“As stakeholders, we have made both individual and collective efforts at letting Mai Mala Buni realise his mistakes, but it appears that as we inch closer to making him realise, he digs in further into his sit-tight plans at the party’s national secretariat. We, therefore, call on the Yobe State House of Assembly to begin impeachment process if he fails to resign as governor.”
These Yobe stakeholders are making sense. Unfortunately, the Yobe State House of Assembly is incompetent. Buni, please return to Yobe and face your constitutional duties. Allow the APC to look for another person to pilot its affairs. This is clearly not a job for an incumbent governor.
War in Katsina Emirate over Open Grazing
The Wakilin Kudin Katsina, Alhaji Abdu Iliyasu has never hidden his dislike for open grazing of animals in the Emirate. Hundreds of lives have been lost in clashes between herders and crop farmers in this domain. But getting the Emirate Council to join the clamour for a ban of open grazing has been tough, despite the atrocities of herders. An obviously angry Iliyasu did the extraordinary last Wednesday, when he openly made a case for the ban of open grazing in Katsina metropolis and its surrounding communities. He wants the Emirate to put machinery in place for its effective implementation. But the palace was quick to openly repudiate Iliyasu. The spokesman for the Katsina Emirate Council, Mallam Iro Bindawa, said it was not an official position.
Pressure is also mounting on Iliyasu to renounce the statement. For now, he is still standing by his position. But I doubt if it would be for long. My message to the Katsina Emirate Council is a simple one: Open grazing of animals is an aberration in modern societies. Katsina can’t be an exception. This Emirate must work towards ending this abnormality and close the killings arising from clashes between herders and crop farmers. This is the only way forward for Katsina Emirate in particular and Nigeria in general. The truth is constant.
