Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
Communities of Lame District in Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State have expressed concern over the influx of strangers inside popular Lame Burra game reserves.
Sarkin Yakin Bauchi, District Head of Lame, Alhaji Aliyu Yakubu Lame, confirmed the presence of strangers inside the game reserve, saying “it’s worrisome the presence of these young men that either came to the forest from Zamfara axis while others came from the southern part of the country.
Alhaji Aliyu said, “we have already profiled many of the youths in the area, and we are monitoring their activities to ensure that they didn’t cause any security breach in the area, and we have reported the matter to the Emir of Bauchi, and the Bauchi State Government and both of them are working hard to ensure that there is no break of law and order.”
He said as the Head of District Heads in the area, they meet regularly on the security and well-being of their subjects and also engage the services of the hunters, local vigilantes that work with security agencies to monitor all the nooks and crannies of the area”
Alhaji Ali lamented the attitudes of some of the traditional rulers and forestry officers who accommodate people in the bush without the knowledge of the district head and sometimes give them land to build houses inside the game reserve. He said the major problem is where strangers that are accommodated also receive and accommodate other unknown visitors and warned the concerned leaders in the area to desist from accepting or giving land to strangers without following extinct laws and due process.
Sarkin Yaki urged relevant security agencies and the Bauchi State government to, as a matter of urgency, take steps to see that the fear of the people about the influx of these characters is not only allayed but also that it does not become an ugly reality if proactive measures are not taken.
Some residents of the area complained to our reporters that “This development is more worrisome for the fact that it looks like a very well-co-ordinated deployment of idle young men from among a people who in recent time have allegedly come to be notorious for their intolerance, hostility, violence and a propensity to dominate their hosts and grab their lands and other assets.
Communities expressed the fear of these suspicious persons allegedly lurking around in the bush, said it had become necessary for us to express great concern in order to avoid doing anything that will disturb the peace enjoy In the state.
“As we speak, there are the presence of many people that occupied a vast expanse of the forest as their habitation and their fortress and we have the fear that many of these newcomers have drifted into the forest and appeal to the authorities to investigate the strangers and if found wanting, should be apprehended and evacuated to where they may have come from.”
