By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Rattled by the escalating insecurity in their community resulting in murders and abductions, Residents of Birshin Fulani, a suburbs of Bauchi metropolis have berated the state government for not doing enough to safeguard their lives from the frequent invasion of unknown gunmen who have so far kidnapped four people and killed two in the process.
The residents in a press release issued by Concerned Community of Birshin Fulani lamented that, “None of our elected officeholders has found it worthy to either sympathize with us or help take a concrete measure that will guarantee our safety and security from the killer gunmen who find pleasure in destroying our hard-earned peace” .
The press release signed by Abdulhamid Jibrin Birshi On behalf of the Concerned of Birshin Fulani Community said , “As we speak at the moment, several wealthy individuals have started deserting our community and scampering for safety in different places, to evade the kidnappers” .
The residents also stated that, “Many of our residents now sleep in the bush out of fear of the unknown, because the gunmen can strike any moment knowing fully well that there are no measures on the ground to repel them when they come” .
They added that, “from the member of the State House of Assembly, Danlami Kawule to the House of Reps, Yakubu Shehu Abdullahi, to the Senate member Lawal Yaya Gumau and down to the Governor of Bauchi State, we did not see any concrete support from you people to help us move out of the current insecurity quagmire bedevilling our community”.
“The inability of these political officeholders to pay either personal or official visits in sympathy and solidarity to the people of this community that are now leaving at the mercy of killer gunmen has reminded us that we are only relevant when our votes are needed”, the residents lamented.
Furthermore, they observed that, “This show of unpatriotic and empathy by these leaders across the cadres mentioned is a further reminder that “We are on our own” when tragedy befalls us. This show of “I don’t care attitude” is highly unfortunate and regrettable” .
“But we want to remind these leaders across all the cadres mentioned earlier, that power is transient; any position you are occupying today have once been occupied by someone, and today history has pushed them aside. You will also leave those positions someday, and history will continue to judge your actions or inactions while in a position of power. We leave you to your conscience and the tide of time”, the release contained.
While recounting the experiences of the residents, the Concerned Community narrated that, “you may recall that on September 9th 2021, unknown gunmen struck Birshin Fulani community, killed a staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi and his neighbour who were resisting being kidnapped by the gunmen” .
They added that, “The kidnappers, after killing the Imam, abducted his son and one other individual and only released them after a heavy ransom was paid. Few days after the first incident, the gunmen struck again, shot sporadically to scare residents and abducted two more people”.
“In another incident, which is the third, the kidnappers stormed the community and kidnapped another individual; the fourth and the latest incident happened on Thursday the 17th of September where they ransacked the community, kidnapped the wife of an AIT staff whose pregnancy is 8 month old, making it the fourth in less than two weeks”, they further recounted. In total, the kidnappers have killed two people and abducted four”, they further recounted.
The residents disclosed that, “On the latest kidnap incident, the gunmen are demanding N50 million as ransom, they have only downsized the money to N45 million after repeated pleas from the husband. The gunmen have given a 24-hour ultimatum to the husband to give them the said amount or get his wife killed”.
They revealed that, “A report reaching us this morning (Sunday) is that our neighbours, Anguwar Kanawa, just a few metres away from us were equally attacked by the same gunmen. It took members of the vigilante several hours before they were able to repel the gunmen” .
They lamented that, “These incessant incidences of kidnapping, by a gang of 10 AK 47 carrying gunmen seemed to have defied solution. We note with dismay the inability of people in positions of power to do the needful. For instance, from the lowest to the highest political officeholders in the land who usually storm our community in search of votes during the campaigns only the Deputy Speaker paid a condolence visit”.