KABIRU DOGON DAJI, in this piece, X-rays the resettlement of displaced persons, against the backdrop of the recent farmers, Fulani herdsmen clash in Bakoshi village of Suru local government area of Kebbi state. He also looks at measures taken by the government and the State Emergency Management Agency (KSEMA) to forestall escalation of violent clashes.
Interventions to forestall bloodbath
Unlike the human carnage resulting from herders/farmers’ clashes in some parts of northern Nigeria, Kebbi state government has been proactive towards nipping in the bud further clash between herders and farmers in the state.
The prevailing peaceful co-existence is as a result of early interventions to forestall ugly incident in the state.
Interestingly, normalcy has since returned to Bakoshi village and Bamballa Fulani settlement in Bakuwai district of Suru local government area of Kebbi state after an unfortunate incident that occurred barely a week ago that rendered over 100 herdsmen homeless and about two hundred different species of animals ie cows, goats, sheep’s and donkeys were killed and burnt to ashes when the farmers in Bakoshi village allegedly descended on the settlement and razed down every household.
How the carnage happened
Speaking to our correspondent in Birnin kebbi, over the incident and measures put in place by the government, The Chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (KSEMA) Alhaji Sani Dododo, narrated how the incident happened.
According to him the people of Bakoshi are mainly farmers while the Bamballa is a Fulani settlement, in the past and which has been a traditional that the farmers always pointed an accusing finger on the herdsmen whenever their crops in the farm were tempered with.
The chairman explained that on the faithful day, a farmer from Bakoshi village Shehu Bakoshi, was declared missing and as usual rescue team went on search mission and they found the dead body of Shehu Bakoshi right in his farm and that was what triggered the crisis, as the people of Bakoshi concluded that their keens man was assassinated by the Fulani herdsmen.
Dododo further added that the corpse of Shehu was taken to the hospital for a postmortem examination, but the result showed that he was not murdered, rather, he died of an illness. “But yet, the farmers were not convinced because they have already planned to take law into their hands, then, no sooner they mobilized and launched an attacked on the Fulani settlement there by razed their hurts and killed their animals”.
Though, no human life was lost during the reprisal because it was gathered that the news of the attackers was leaked to the herdsmen some hours before the time and who communicated same to their people to vacate the settlement for their dear lives.
The chairman added that upon receiving report of the incident he and his team mobilized to the scene alongside security agencies in the state to ensure that the situation was calmed.
Caution
He noted that the incident was first of its kind in the state, therefore, urged all and sundry to live peacefully with one another in the overall development of the state and the nation at large, saying “The present administration under the able leadership of Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, has accorded security of lives and property of the citizenry an utmost priority therefore, would dealt ruthlessly with any person or group of person’s trying to disrupt the peaceful co-existence of the good people of Kebbi state as the state is known to be the most peaceful in the country”
Dododo
Dododo said already the state government through KSEMA has provided a land with all the facilities like water, electricity, drugs, toilets in the new Bambala settlement while food items like maize, sorghum, millet and guinea corn were distributed to the victims. In addition to roofing sheets, nails, cement, blankets, mats as well as household utensils were adequately provided for the victims so as to have a sense of belonging.
“We don’t joke with the welfare of our people whatever we promised to do we made sure we fulfilled it, as you know the governor senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, was personally here to see for himself what happened and sympathized with them and called for a peace dialogue between the two warren factions and assisted the victims with solid cash as a succour, and ordered the police to investigate the matter and brought to book whoever was evolved in the uprising to face the wrath of the law” Dododo added.
C ommissioner of police
The State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim M. Kabiru, said 15 people were arrested and his command was making efforts to ensure that all the suspects arrested will be prosecuted, adding that already security has been beefed up in the area and normalcy has been restored. He warned that people should desist from taken law into their hands.
Bambala settlement leader
The leader of the Bambala settlement, Malam Usmanu Joji, expressed gratitude to God for spearing their lives which he said if not for divine intervention many people would have been killed, “but thanked God that only animals were killed, so when we had the rumour of the dastardly act we immediately mobilized people women and children to flee away and lucky enough we sent our cows to the river side only few cows were affected but the rest are the smaller animals like sheep’s and goats”
He thanked the state governor, the management of KSEMA, police, journalists and all those that participated in one way or the other in ensuring the incident was resolved amicably while he denied the claim by the farmers that the herdsmen were responsible for the death of Shehu Bakoshi, similarly he urged his people to remain calm as justice would prevailed.
Victim’s lamentation
An elder of the Bambala community, Malam Manuga Abubakar, who claimed to have lost about a million naira cash, when his hut was burnt, narrated his ordeal: “I was in Banza town to attend a local market when somebody (name withheld), from Bakoshi village, called to intimate me on the purported planned by Bakoshi people to attack our settlement, I was confused and had to call my people to take measures by fleeing, but unfortunately for me, I forgot to tell my wife to carry along with her the money I had buried in a secret place inside the hut”.
According to him, the money, amounting eight hundred thousand was from the sales on some cows and with which he intended to buy another set of cows but, as God would have it the money was burnt to ashes, “we accept the will of God and pray that He would reward us abundantly over an unjustifiable and unrealistic allegation that we didn’t commit”
Plan for modern school
However, KSEMA has a plan of constructing a modern school for the Bambala settlement, where both western and eastern system of education would be practiced. Blueprint learnt that qualified teachers have also been recruited to start the learning programme under a temporary shelter arrangement before the construction of permanent structure.
