IF THEY CAN ALLOW THIS MAYHEM ON THEIR OWN, WELL, JUST IMAGINE IF...
Pulse Explainer: Here's all you need to know about Zamfara killings
The bandits raze markets and homes and kill villagers indiscriminately.
This piece explains how Zamfara, with a population of over three million inhabitants, has become a killing field of some sort.
Blood Gold
Nigeria has untapped deposits of mineral
resources spread across its 36 states. Some of these untapped minerals
are zinc, tin and gold.
Zamfara is rich in gold. Unfortunately, mining gold in Zamfara is unstructured, largely informal and illegal.
Artisans, most of whom are unskilled, are in
charge of the extraction, purification and commercialization of gold in
Zamfara on a small scale.
In this disorganized maze that is the gold
mining industry in Zamfara, criminal gangs have become law enforcers and
they dispatch persons who they consider to stand in their way, to the
graves.
Gold from Zamfara is routinely smuggled out of
the state to ready markets in neighboring Togo, Benin and Niger. From
here, the gold finds its way to other markets across the world, with
Nigeria benefiting next to nothing from the sale; and Zamfara
maintaining its status as one of the poorest states in the country.
Intelligence reports say there is a nexus between the illicit gold mining industry and the killings in Zamfara.
How many people have been killed by the bandits in Zamfara so far?
It is difficult to put a figure to the
killings. However, for a crises that has spanned all of two years, the
death toll is better imagined. Hundreds have been killed in Zamfara
since 2016 and hundreds have been buried in mass graves.
The modus operandi of the bandits goes like
this: they raid villages, tear down doors, drag the heads of homes from
houses and hurl them into forests. In the forests, they establish
contact with the families and demand a ransom. Once this ransom doesn’t
arrive on time, they proceed to killing their victims.
At other times, the bandits just kill for fun.
The bandits also rustle livestock across
villages and communities in Zamfara. Hundreds of cows, goats and birds
have been forcefully taken from homes by rampaging bandits.
From Ajia and Wonaka in Birnin Magaji local
government, to Kayayi village in Shinkafi local government, from Yan
Taskuwa to Kucheri, from Tungar Kolo to all the Kara markets in Zamfara,
the bandits have left sorrow, tears and blood in their wake.
The spate of killings in Zamfara has also
prevented farmers from going about their business. As a consequence,
food is becoming scarce in Zamfara.
What is being done by the government to stop the killings?
After indigenes of Zamfara State who reside in Abuja stormed the presidential villa to register how displeased they are with the federal government over the killings, President Muhammadu Buhari issued a directive suspending all mining activities in Zamfara.
Buhari said he is “constantly
in touch with the security chiefs, and receive regular briefings on the
situation in Zamfara and across the country. Let me assure that we will
continue to do everything to motivate and equip them to respond
effectively to all our security challenges”.
The presidency would later issue a statement to say that “in
the face of intelligence reports that have clearly established a strong
and glaring nexus between the activities of armed bandits and illicit
miners – with both mutually re-enforcing each other, the Federal
Government of Nigeria has directed that mining activities in Zamfara and
other affected States are hereby suspended with immediate effect”.
Acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, also informed the nation that the “Nigeria
Police Force in collaboration with the Nigerian Military and other
Security Services has commenced “Operation PUFF- ADDER” which is a full
scale security offensive against the bandits.
“The operation is aimed at reclaiming
every public space under the control of the bandits, arrest and bring to
book all perpetrators of violence in the area and their collaborators,
achieve a total destruction of all criminal camps and hideouts, mop up
all illicit weapons fueling the violence and attain a full restoration
of law and order in the affected communities.
“Our commitment at protecting the sanctity
of life and property is irrevocable, and we will not scale-down the
pressure on the armed bandits until they are totally flushed-out.
“Mining activities in Zamfara and other
affected states are hereby suspended with immediate effect.
Consequently, any mining operator who engages in mining activities in
the affected locations henceforth will have his licence revoked.
“All foreigners operating in the mining
fields should close and leave within 48hours. I want to assure the
general public, especially in the affected areas that the security
services are doing their best to address the situation”.
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) also announced
that its Air Task Force (ATF) for Operation DIRAN MIKIYA has
successfully destroyed a bandits’ logistics base at Ajia in Birnin
Magaji.
According to Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, “the
ATF dispatched a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Alpha Jet, supported by an
Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform, to attack
the compound, scoring accurate strikes on the target and causing it to
erupt into flames, which engulfed the structures and resulted in the
neutralization of some of the bandits”.
At the time of writing, Nigeria's already
stretched security architecture, has been mobilized to Zamfara to deal
the bandits a devastating blow.
Comments
Post a Comment