BAUCHI — The Chairman of Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State, Mamuda Hassan Tabla, has disclosed that Burra communities of the Local Government Area which has been devastated by incessant kidnapping and other forms of banditry have paid over N72 million in 2020 as ransom to kidnappers in order to secure the release of their kinsmen from captivity.
Tabla while speaking with newsmen in Bauchi said the council had received complaints from farmers associations from Burra communities about the influx of strangers from Zamfara State, numbering about 5,000 households that settled in the forest, the vast Lame/Burra Games reserves.
“The communities witnessed series of abductions of their people.”
“Whenever a person is abducted, the bandits will ask the victim to take the ransom to Zamfara State and within the last one year, the communities said they paid over N72 million as ransom.”
“When we received the report, we decided to investigate the matter and discovered that the present administration inherited the problem. We noticed that people from other states started settling in the bush in 2012 with series of kidnappings taking place, even in Ningi town.”
“We have reported the matter to the governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed. We held a meeting with the governor on three different occasions concerning the issue of security in our area. Gladly, his excellency took urgent action to address the situation by sending fighter Jets that ransacked the bush and cleared the criminals from Lame Burra game reserve.”
“The governor deployed security personnel to protect the people and also recruited hunters and vigilantes as part of efforts at protecting the lives and properties of our citizens which reduced the activities of banditry in our area,” Tabla said.
He lamented that the people of the area were now living in perpetual fear, as the council reliably gathered that the strangers had been felling trees and farming in the area.
The council chairman added that they even built a mosque after they settled there, thereby becoming a threat to the natives.
The chairman further said that the communities live in constant fear due to the activities of the bandits who kidnap their people and are gradually taking away their farms.
According to him, the move was to leave the residents of the communities in abject poverty as they keep paying ransom to them and losing their farms.
Tabla also said that the council met with traditional rulers, security operatives, and all relevant stakeholders, stressing that they are compiling the report of the activities of the bandits, after which it will be presented to the state government for necessary action.
He commended the state governor, Senator Bala Mohammed for his prompt response on issues that affect the security and well-being of society.
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