Mohammed Munirat Nasir, Gusau
The growing banditry, kidnapping and cattle rustling in Zamfara is gradually taking its toll on major towns across the state as they are fast turning into camps for the thousands of displaced from rural and remote areas due to violent attacks that have led to the death of over 3,526 people and another 8,219 persons sustaining various degrees of injuries.
Though there is no officially designated Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the Northwest state, investigations however show that people in the over 500 ransacked and deserted villages across the state are currently scattered all over the state especially in Gusau, the state capital, the local government council headquarters and other major towns and cities with some of them squatting with their relatives.
Worst hit are the vulnerable; the widows and orphans who are now facing herculean tasks of feeding themselves having lost their bread winners and farm lands following the destruction of over 13,000 hectares of farm lands across 14 local government areas of the state. They are now regular faces on the streets of major towns working as fingernail cutters (Yan yanka farche), load carriers (Yan dako) or alms beggars (almajirai) to survive.
Tales of woes
Those who spoke to Saturday Sun lamented their woes.
Malam Sanusi Abubakar, one of those who was lucky to escape unhurt from his village in Birnin Magaji local government area and presently living in an open field in Gusau metropolis said he and others who fled to Gusau are currently going through hell as they don’t have any meaningful source of livelihood.
Abubakar said after the attack on their village, he had no option than to flee because their farm lands and food storage facilities were destroyed making them to have nothing to depend on to survive. The other alternative was to engage in menial jobs or begging to survive.
Another victim, Shafi’u Gidan Juli from Gusami village also of Birnin Magaji local government area, said his family comprising of two wives and 10 children relocated to Gusau metropolis when life became unbearable for them in their village after bandits killed eight members of his family. “Over 150 of our people are currently taking refuge in Gusau not because we like it but we were forced to relocate to save our lives and look for food to survive”, he said.
Malama Maryamu Ibrahim, a widow who lost her husband to attacks by bandits and presently living with relations in Maradun town of Maradun local government area said she and other vulnerable widows have turned to beggars as means of survival. “We are appealing to the state and federal government to please come to our aid to save us from this perpetual suffering which we are going through presently”, she pleaded.
Others who spoke pleaded for proactive measures by the military and other security agencies fighting the banditry scourge in the state to restore security and peace which Zamfara state was known for before the bandits attacks started.
A resident of Gusau, Abdullahi Sani described the plight of the displaced persons in the state as worrisome. He called for urgent intervention to avert an ugly human calamity in the state. Sani said if the current influx of displaced persons from the remote villages into major cities across the state is not checked, it is capable of causing economic crunch, which can cause more hardship for the people of the state.