Birnin Gwari Emirate has cried out that Ansaru terrorist group has taken over the administration of Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna State.
Newsonline reports that the Birnin Gwari Emirate made the disclosure through a councillor, Zubair Abdurra’uf who represented the Emirate in an interview.
Zubair lamented that Ansaru bandits have formed a government within government. He said the locals have no other option but to obey the government of the Ansaru group.
Abdurra’uf said the locals go to the bandits’ officials in charge of settlement of disputes between villages and communities for dispute adjudication.
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“We have a government within the government. The locals have no option but to take some of their issues to these terrorists for adjudication because of the absence of some of the institutions of government that will normally take care of these issues,” Abdurra’uf said.
He added, “There are some areas within Birnin Gwari, particularly the eastern part, whereby the Ansaru administer the territory because they give directives to the citizens who are there and they decide what is to be done.”
The Birnin council legislative organ member said all schools in the Birnin Gwari local government have been shut down by the terrorist organization. This said was in obedience to the order of Ansaru.
“Most of the schools in the area are deserted because they (Ansaru) issued a decree that nobody should go to any school or have any form of formal education.”
“The ideological conviction of Ansaru is not different from Boko Haram because the Ansaru are a splinter group of Boko Haram and whatever you see Ansaru do is in consonance with whatever Boko Haram are doing but only that the modus operandi of the two groups differ.”
Abdurra’uf explained that locals are living under the decrees of the terrorist group. He said all families pay levies to the group. He added that to farm, residents have to pay to access their farms, and during harvests, residents are to pay levies and give out a portion of their harvests to the bandits.
He further explained that residents after paying the levies are made to hope that the Ansaru bandits would not use their farm crops to feed their cows.
He further narrated, “They (residents) have their cattle confiscated; they have to pay all sorts of levies to the terrorists. They pay for the harvest. For every ten bags, they give two bags to all these bandits while they take eight away. Whether you pay money or not before the farming season, they would go to your farm and whatever they find there, they would (use to) feed their cattle.
“You see them pushing their cattle into these farms then (they will) block the farmers from access to their produce while the cattle eat everything.”
Abdurra’uf added that local residents have come to accept the Ansaru group as messiah, as there seems to be no government intervention in sight.
“So, when the Ansaru offers help to these people, they take it because they don’t have the means to protect themselves. They have seen Ansaru as messiah that will eliminate these people (hoodlums) who capitalize on their inadequacy and lack of protection which is the primary responsibility of the government,” Abdurra’uf said.
Recall that Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai on Tuesday appealed to the 9th National Assembly to enact law for state police. El-Rufai disclosed that activities of non-state actors across the country has made it necessary for states to have their police force to help bring security closer to the people.
