By Zahra Muhammad, Minna
Aminu Isyaku, still remembers the first time he sighted the much-talked-about ‘armed robbers’ in his hometown in Zazzaga. He recounts seeing them everywhere and fully armed. In his words, “I thought they were more than us (the residents). I saw them looking like Pastoralists but with heavy guns. I remembered crawling into a well for safety. I stayed inside the well until I could no longer hear the sound of gunshots but the wailing of people.
His brother, Isyaku Zubairu also recounts seeing the bandits tie a member of the vigilante in the area to the back of their motorcycle after a gunshot fired had refused to pierce his body. “They dragged him on the ground until he died,” said Zubairu.
Emmanuel Akaya was not so lucky to escape when bandits attacked his community late last year.
The resident of ‘Sonkagula’ was kidnapped when the bandits struck his community that unfaithful evening.
Emmanuel spent a month in captivity before his family was able to sell their properties to secure his release. “I was at home when I heard the gunshots. Everyone was trying to escape. That day, I remembered counting 10 corpses before I was taken away by the bandits.”
The gunmen struck a second time and Emmanuel, together with hundreds of other villagers were forced to seek a safer abode.
Another displaced person, Khadija Umar is reluctant to go into details of her experience with the bandits. “The last time they came, we did not like the outcome. They humiliated our children, killed our men, and abducted many people. We suffered that day,” she said in anguish.
The plight of these displaced persons is similar to that of many others now taking refuge at the Gwada IDP Camp.
While they come from many communities under different local government areas, they all have these in common; their homes are no longer safe as attacks have increased in recent times. These people have lost their sources of income and are living under miserable conditions in overcrowded classrooms with no hope of an end to their misery.
Many of these IDPs have lost loved ones to banditry. Others are victims of kidnapping while a good number have become destitute after losing properties to the menace.
One of such victims, Baba Abu lost his eldest son to the bandits late last year. The deceased, identified as Nura was shot dead in broad daylight, just three days after his wedding, when the bandits had invaded Kuchi Community, in Munya local government area of Niger State.
The destitute old man had in January, moved to the Gwada IDP Camp alongside thousands of others in fear of another attack.
‘Running from bandits, battling hunger in displacement’
Uwale Sani had fled Kuchi Community in Munya local government area of Niger State in fear of attacks by bandits.
The state at which Uwale left her home on a Sunday afternoon in the first week of February, did not warrant her taking any valuables with her.
With seven children in tow, her biggest concern was making sure they all got transported to Gwada on that eventful day. “Everyone in Kuchi was leaving. The security agencies stationed in our community were leaving so we joined them. On that day, my greatest concern was leaving alive with my family. If we were left behind and got kidnapped, what do I have to sell to pay for ransom?” Uwale said.
Uwale holds a baby to her chest as she narrates how she had left Kuchi in the company of many others. Tugging at her feet is a girl barely three years old, crying due to hunger.
Last year, after fleeing Kuchi to seek refuge at Gwada, she had given birth to the baby at the camp.
While this isn’t the first time Uwale is seeking refuge at Gwada IDP Camp, this time she is more desperate to return home as a result of the hunger biting hard at her, and many of the IDP’S. “We are living a miserable life. This is nothing compared to life at home. We sleep on the streets or in other people’s houses when they are benevolent enough to give us a place to stay,” Uwale said regarding the accommodation challenge in the camp.
The last time Uwale was at the Camp, she got food donated by a non-governmental organization, DIWA.
This time, the Gwada IDP Camp is overpopulated as a result of the many fleeing villagers from communities in Shiroro and Munya local government area of Niger State.
After spending a week in the camp with no sign of any palliative, Uwale opted to engage two of her children, who are between the ages of seven and nine in street Hawking.
This venture earns Uwale an income of between N150 and N200 daily, according to her. “When we came back to the camp, we thought we will be given food as was the case last year. We have exhausted the little money in our hands and then I got to know that women in Gwada town were paying children to hawk their wares. I have engaged two of my children in the business. The money isn’t much but it’s still something for someone who lives in a place where you have to buy everything, including water. Most times, breakfast is delayed until noon, and after that, we hardly eat any other food until the next day. Here, everyone caters for themselves so our feeding pattern won’t be the same.”
Uwale is not the only one who has keyed into this venture. The likes of Mardiyya Yusuf and Hafsat Saidu have also engaged their children in the venture.
As unappealing as the venture looks for these women, dire situations call for dire actions as according to Mardiyya Yusuf, allowing a young child to hawk in an alien environment despite being risky was necessary. “I am not unaware of the risks but what can I do? The only thing I left home with was my children and the clothes we wore. The money the children make is enough to prepare breakfast. If I had something profitable doing, I won’t send my children,” Mardiyya said.
For Isyaku’s brothers living in the camp has not just been miserable but alien to them. Their greatest wish is for the state government to help them return to their home. “We are rural dwellers; everyone knows this lifestyle is not for us. Back home, we may be penniless but we never lack food to eat. We have been staying in this camp for weeks now but we have only become hungrier.” Aminu Isyaku stated.
“We didn’t prepare for this journey. We left suddenly with no money and no source of income to sustain ourselves here. The Government should please help us return to our communities. We came out to seek refuge but we are suffering greatly,” Zubairu said.
The Gwada IDP Camp has an estimated population of 3,460 as of the end of January 2022.
This figure is expected to go higher as more people are seen to desert their communities with the escalation of the security situation across Niger State, officials at the IDP Camp state.
Speaking with InsightMinna at the camp in Gwada, the Desk Officer of the Gwada IDP Camp, Habibu Musa said that the numbers have risen rapidly such that it has become difficult for the state government to cater adequately to the needs of the displaced persons.
He identified the lack of food and drugs as the greatest challenge to residents of the camp. “The Niger State Government has been trying in this aspect but the numbers keep increasing. When we opened this camp, we had 444 displaced persons but by our last count, we now have 3,460 IDP’s. I am sure we did not count many others because they usually go outside the camp while many more keep coming in,” he said.
Similarly, the Deputy Governor of Niger State, Ahmed Ketso during a visit to the camp earlier this month said that the state government requires every support it can get to sustain the displaced persons in the camp.
Ketso said that the state government was baffled by the fact that insecurity persists till today in the affected areas, despite the many actions taken by the state government to curtail the menace. “To those who think they have something to offer, we are appealing to them to come to our aid so that we will be able to give these people what is needed to keep them alive,” he said.
