Victims of Shiroro attack in Niger state narrates bloody experience
Hoodlums recently attacked communities in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, killing scores of people and displacing more than 2,000 persons. In this report by ENYIOHA OPARA, survivors talk about their ordeals
For the survivors, the incidents were still really like bad dreams. Many of the residents of Kwaki and Ajatai-Kwaki communities in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State were still dazed and shocked by their recent experiences.
Some thought Nigeria was at war and the opponents had fired the opening salvo when bandits launched attacks on their communities recently; others said it felt like an action movie was playing right before their eyes, one that wasn’t to entertain but to cost them their lives and property. But one thing none of them could wrap their head around was the confidence and impunity with which the bandits operated, shooting people and stealing without any fear.
Surprisingly, according to some of the residents of the affected communities in Shiroro, a helicopter was seen hovering overhead minutes before the deadly attacks started.
A former councillor in Kwaki area, Isaiah Ikko, who confirmed the sighting of the helicopter, said, “The bandits first attacked Kwaki at the early hours of Sunday, June 9, 2019 and proceeded to Ajatai-Kwaki, where they raided the community and rustled cattle. As a result, youths from the main Kwaki community mobilised to intercept the bandits in response to the calls for help by people in the neighbouring community.
“Eventually, they were able to prevent the assailants from taking some of the animals away. But it appeared that the efforts by the youth to stop the bandits annoyed the hoodlums, who promised to return to Kwaki at 12am the following day on a revenge mission. They did keep to their promise as their attack the second time was devastating.”
He said the assailants came with sophisticated guns with telescopes mounted on them.
“It was like a war movie; they aimed at the intended target through telescopes attached to the rifles,” he explained.
According to him, by the time the dust settled, 19 people had been killed, while about 19 others had sustained injuries. He said most of the survivors were those who were lucky to have escaped into the bushes around when the attack started.
Another resident of Kwaki, Jafaru Ibrahim, said the attackers ransacked shops and houses in the community for essential items and cash. Before the second attack on Kwaki, the bandits had earlier attacked Garden Dawaki, Ajatayi, Gwassa, Ajayin Bataro, Bwailo, Baton and Giji, leaving deaths and destruction in their wake.
Survivors recount ordeals
Some of the injured victims at the various healing homes in Erena town, who narrated their ordeals, said they were still in shock.
Usman Kuyabana, 40, from Kwaki village narrowly escaped death when the bandits intercepted him while he and his brother were trying to escape during the attack.
“They ordered us to stop and two of them came towards us; one confronted my brother, while the other spoke to me. They asked for money and mobile phones but my brother said he had nothing on him and the one who spoke to him killed him instantly. I was shaking; I told the one who approached me that my phone and money were in my pockets, so he collected them and still went ahead to shoot me in both arms. Then I fell to the ground. He turned me over and asked me to remain like that or others would kill me if they discovered that I was still alive,” he said.
Kuyabana said most of the assailants wore masks, which made it impossible to identify them. However, he believed that there were informants among them as according to him, some of them identified houses where they could get money. “One of them pointed at where our uncle, who is a trader and wealthy farmer, used to hide money,” he noted.
Another survivor, Abdulhamid Lawal, 35, a driver who was in Kwaki for the burial of a friend killed during the previous (June 9) attack, ran into them while leaving the community for Elena with a friend, on a motorcycle. He said the assailants shot at them, killing the friend who was riding the motorcycle instantly, while he (Lawal) sustained bullet wounds in the right leg. “I fainted and they thought I had died, so they left me. It was like experiencing a war; we thought the end had come,” he narrated.
Also Teni Magwa, from Ajayi village in Shiroro told Saturday PUNCH, that she was sure that the assailants were Fulani. She was also shot in the leg.
“The Fulani bandits were shooting at everything, killing so many people in my village. You would think it was a war. I had never seen such an attack before since I got married and moved to this village. I don’t know what has come over this state,” she said.
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Magwa was shot while running for safety. She said she could still recall how people were being killed like chickens.
She, however, appealed to the state government to provide adequate security in her community to prevent a re-occurrence.
“The environment is not conducive despite the relief materials provided by the government, we need to go back home,” she said.
Many of the victims of the attacks are currently at the internally displaced persons’ camp at Erena and have vowed not to return home until they are sure that adequate security arrangement has been made for their safety.
It was learnt that some of those who sustained bullet wounds were taken to Kuta General Hospital and Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida Specialist Hospital, Minna, the state capital, for medical attention, depending on the degree of injury sustained.
Governor Abubakar Bello, who visited the camp in Erena, on Monday assured the people that security would be tightened in the affected areas, adding that troops had already been sent to the areas.
“We would beef up security in the contiguous areas; unfortunately, access to these areas is almost impossible because it is mostly marshy and rocky but we have been able to send security personnel there so that the local people can go back to their various homes.
“I have spoken to a few of them and I understand their fears, they are scared to go back home and I do not blame them. I do not blame them for being scared but I think we have sent enough troops to these communities to provide adequate security for the time being. We are doing our best to make sure they go back home, as we look at the comprehensive plan for providing more security,” he had said.
The governor said 37 persons had been killed while 27 were being treated with various gunshot wounds.
The Acting Director-General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, Abdullahi Tanko Zumba, said there were over 2,000 persons in the IDPs’ camp in Erena, while 24 injured persons were still receiving treatment at its clinic.
The Director of the Primary Healthcare Centre in Shiroro, who heads the IDPs’ camp clinic, Musa Idris Aliyu, said in the last one week, 513 patients had been treated.
Rebika Lado, 20, a victim of the attack, was recently delivered of a baby in the camp. Lado said she was forced to leave her community following an attack by bandits.
“I never knew I would give birth at Erena Primary School, which serves as IDPs’ camp. My husband and I had planned that I would deliver my baby boy somewhere else, but the problem of bandits brought us here,” she said.
Victims of the attack
Amina Sanusi, who had a stillbirth in the camp after being forced by bandits to seek safety there, said she believed the stress she went through affected the baby.
“I trekked from Kwaki to Erena while heavily pregnant and it is a long distance; that affected my baby. I knew it would happen because I wasn’t feeling fine when we were running for our dear lives.
“I was referred to Kuta General Hospital for proper medical attention and to prevent complications after having a stillbirth because it was beyond what the health workers at the camp could deal with,” she said.
District Head of Kwaki, Alhaji Bala Bawa, said that the bandits took them by surprise.
He appealed to the state government to liaise with the Federal Government to provide adequate security in the state and crush the bandits so that residents of the affected communities could return home as soon as possible.
“We are in farming season and my people are predominantly farmers; that is our source of livelihood. We are begging the state government to come to our aid,” he said.
According to Bawa, the bandits always ride motorcycles in the affected communities, while security agents always have difficulty accessing the areas with their cars because of poor road network.
Attacks trigger humanitarian crisis
Saturday PUNCH has observed that the attacks have triggered severe humanitarian crisis with temporary camps created in four different locations – Erena, Zumba, Galadima-Kogo and Gwada. Our correspondent learnt that most of the displaced persons in Erena were from Kwaki, which is said to have the highest number of casualties in the attacks.
Last Saturday, some trucks loaded with relief materials provided by the state government through NSEMA were taken to the camps. According to the acting DG of NSEMA, the items included rice, millet, corn, beans, red oil, groundnut oil, blankets and insecticide-treated nets.
Security agencies have said that the bandits infiltrated the state from Birinin Gwari in Kaduna and neighbouring Zamfara states and were taking advantage of the forest stretching along Niger State’s border with the states.
Source: Punch
