Kidnappers collect N72 million ransom from Burra communities

Kidnappers collect N72 million ransom from Burra Communities

Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi

Burra communities in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State have alleged that they paid over N72 million as ransom to bandits after abducting their kinsmen before they released them from captivity last year.

Chairman of Ningi Local Government, Mamuda Hassan Tabla, stated this while speaking with newsmen in Bauchi.

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“We received complaints from Farmers Associations from Burra communities about the influx of strangers from Zamfara State numbered about 5000 households; they settled in the bush, cutting trees and farming in the area. They even built a Jumaat mosque. The communities have witnessed serial abductions of their people, and if a person is abducted, they will ask him to take the ransom to Zamfara. Within the last one year the community said they paid over N72 million as ransom.

When we received the report, we started investigating the matter and we realised the present administration inherited the problems because, people from other states started settling in the bush in 2012, and series of kidnappings have been taking place even in Ningi town. When we came on board, I reported the matter to His Excellency, the Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Mohammed, who sat with us three times on security issues in our area and he took urgent action to address the problem. He sent fighter jets that ransacked the bush and cleared criminals from Lame Burra game reserve,” he added.

“Security personnel were deployed to protect the people and we recruited hunters and vigilantes as part of an effort to protect the lives and properties of our citizens which reduced the activities of banditry in our area.”

He said the communities are afraid of the activities of the kidnappers abducting their people and gradually taking away their farmlands, which by extension will lead them to abject poverty because they would have no other means of survival if they lose their farms.

Mamuda added that “we met with traditional rulers and security operatives and all relevant stakeholders; we are compiling the report and we will take it to the State government for necessary action.”

He commended Governor Bala for his prompt response on issues that affect the security and well-being of the society “especially the laudable development projects that have direct bearing to the lives of people being executed by his government, the projects are scattered in all nooks and crannies of Ningi local government areas.”

The chairman listed some of the projects to include, construction of Mass Housing, the construction of schools, siting a mega school in Ningi, the provision of water, and the building of Hospitals and maternities.

You would recall that last February, a prominent politician in the area, Alhaji Mato Burra, was abducted by unknown gunmen, his family paid ransom to bandits in Zamfara State, but the community has not heard anything about him since.

Recently, the district Head of Lame, Sarkin Yakin Bauchi raised an alarm over the presence of strangers in the Lame Burra forest; he said their presence has become a threat to the security of lives and properties in Toro and Ningi local government Areas.