Insecurity: 5 Sokoto LGs are being controlled by terrorists and bandits. The safety of people and property in Sokoto State’s eastern region looks to have reached an all-time low as criminal groups are now given carte blanche to kill, abduct, and injure defenseless locals.

    With their fate now in God’s hands, the afflicted people, particularly those in the state’s Isa, Sabon Birni, Rabah, Goronyo, and Illela local council districts, are now overcome with terror of the unknown.

    This is due to the fact that bandits and other criminals are now freely traversing the territories and dashing anyone or group to challenge them, leaving the populace completely at their mercy.

    Many individuals have also avoided traveling to or staying in their home villages as a result of the recent wave of unrest that is sweeping Sokoto East, particularly in light of the armed men’s unjustified arrests of innocent people.

    A thriving young businessman was mercilessly shot and killed at close range during the most recent attack on the neighborhood for an unknown motive.

    It is a bad development that many people in the neighborhood perceive as a planned assassination.

    Residents may be able to link the deceased to just one crime: funding the election of a prominent state lawmaker who is currently serving in the National Assembly.

    In addition to the murdered businessman, many others have been abducted, tortured, and savagely injured by the bandits while attempting to survive either on their fields or within their places of business.

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    Security personnel, farmers, residents, and visitors are all now targets for terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, and armed robbers who aren’t even frightened of the security personnel due to the rising crime and violence.

    Since the lethal gangs seized control of the five council areas of Sokoto State and continued to attack everybody in sight, several soldiers, police officers, and members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, or NSCDC, have also been killed. Many towns and villages in the state’s eastern region have been set on fire, driving locals to seek safety in urban areas. As a result, new IDP centers have appeared in Sokoto, the state capital, across the region.

    bandits
    bandits

    Attahiru Bafarawa, a previous governor of the state, once had his home invaded in Bafarawa by robbers who broke in with the intention of kidnapping the man. In the process, they killed a police officer.

    Despite the significant investment made by the state government, the Olusegun Obasanjo College of Science and Technology in Bafarawa, which was opened by the former president in 2006, has remained desolate and under lock and key as a result of these recurring bandit raids.

    The situation is so terrible that bandits freely brandish guns in the Bafarawa district of Sokoto State without any resistance from muftis or law enforcement.

    The increase in displaced people in the capital has also led to the conversion of every unfinished building and structure into a camp, especially for the young children and school-age children who have been forced to stop attending school due to either the death of their parents or their kidnapping.

    Sokoto has been one of the most severely affected states in Northern Nigeria over the past two years as a result of the constant attacks. Invading armed individuals shot and killed two immigration inspectors and injured four others barely a month ago at Mamman Suka hamlet along the Sokoto/Illela Road. Without any security personnel confronting them, they fled after carrying out the terrible killings. Alhaji Yusuf Sada, an Isa Town resident, said to Arewa Voice that the town’s ‘many informants’ had caused it to turn into a bandit recruiting ground.

    bandits
    bandits

    Sada declared: “Isa has developed into a hub for bandit recruitment, with innumerable informants providing information on people’s whereabouts and movements to the criminals. I’m over 60, but the most awful and inconvenient part is that I have to sleep in the same room as my mother and her grandchildren because of fear of informers who might accidentally spill the secret that I am in town.

    Imagine that, despite having my own private apartment, I have to pass my own house and spend the night in my mother’s room with the kids out of pure fear of unsuspected marauders. Since then, I have moved to Sokoto, the state capital.

    The 120-kilometer Marnona/Isa Highway has been deserted for more than five years due to the constant threat of bandits and terrorists, forcing locals to risk their lives by traveling through Sabon Birni, a neighboring local government, or crossing over to Zamfara.

    However, assistance for the besieged towns and villages appears to be on the way as Col. Garba Moyi Isa (retd), a former military commander, has started to clear the jungle and make the road more visible to security personnel. In order to provide soldiers and other security personnel patrolling the once-busy road with a clear view, Col. Isa, a former Sokoto commissioner in charge of security, recently financed a brush clearing and stone pitching of the abandoned road.

    In an effort to clean the route and make it more secure for people to use with confidence when traveling, a top federal public officer from the area is alleged to have supported Isa’s gesture with N20 million and three vehicles.

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