Like Boko Haram insurgency turned the North-East into a war-torn zone, the North-West is presently in a fast decline due to banditry. Aside from being a shadow of its former self due to frequent onslaughts by bandits, it has almost become inhabitable for residents. In this special investigative report, Alfred Olufemi toured settlements in a troubled community in Sokoto State, and a town in the neighbouring Niger Republic, and detailed how Nigerians, due to the unrest, have been forced to lead double lives by becoming part-time residents in their homeland during the day and refugees at night in a foreign land
Samson Kenneth, 42, (Pseudonym) was just a teenager when he left Enugu State in search of a better life in Ilela, a commercial town in Sokoto State that shares a border with the Republic of Niger to the North.
The place, he said, gave so much promise at the time and accommodated diversity. After spending 25 years of his life in the dusty town known majorly for its thriving cattle market, Kenneth, now a successful businessman, lives in fear and cannot afford to pass a night with his family in the community he had accepted as home.
In August, 2021, he abandoned his bungalow in Ilela for a rented, three-bedroom apartment in Birni-N’Konni, a town in the Tahoua Region of Niger Republic.
His decision to migrate was not borne out of love for tourism but for safety after a traumatic, life-altering experience he had with bandits that are presently holding the area in a chokehold of death.
Kenneth, who is a tyre retailer, told our correspondent during an interview in his store that Ilela community enjoyed relative peace until recently, when it became a hotbed of bandit’s attacks.
He said, “We enjoyed decades of peace and tranquillity until months back when Sokoto was hit by incessant bandit attacks.”
Recalling his ordeal in the hands of the brutish gangs, he said in the early hours of July 2021, minutes after having his bath, about 15 heavily armed men attacked his home and ordered him to open the door and put on the lights.
“On that day, around 2am, my wife and children were woken up by the noise. They all witnessed what happened that night. It was scary,” he said.
The businessman said the marauding men ransacked his house, took huge amounts of money and other valuables before ordering him to put on his clothes and follow them to an unknown destination.
A still traumatised Kenneth said they trekked for four hours through a forest and passed several villages before getting to a remote village 
where the bandits parked their motorcycles.
He added, “We trekked from 2am to 6am. When we got to the place they (bandits) left their bikes, I was blindfolded and ordered to join one of them on a bike. We rode for hours through the forest.”
The businessman revealed that his abductors initially demanded N20m ransom for his release but after days of negotiations, the amount was reduced to N2m.
Kenneth said he was shocked that his assailants knew so much about him and believed that he might have been targeted by the bandits.
He said, “When they demanded N20m, I told them that I have not seen such an amount of money before in my entire life, but they didn’t believe me. They were angry and reminded me that I built my house within five months. They knew so much about me and this put paid to my suspicion that they were not just picking up people randomly.”
Kenneth said during the four days he spent in captivity with four other victims, they were only fed half-cooked rice.
Consequently, the trauma inflicted by the experience made him abandon his comfortable home to seek refuge in Niger Republic with his family.
“I still live in fear,” the distraught Kenneth told our correspondent, adding that sometimes when he enters his house in Ilela, he becomes paranoid.
A state under siege
For some time now, many states across the northern part of the country had witnessed sporadic attacks by gun-wielding bandits and other criminal elements.
And the attacks are not without heavy casualties as lives are lost in large numbers and property destroyed.
Eminent Nigerians, the international community and human rights activists have expressed dismay over the wanton killing of innocent citizens by these armed men who usually storm the communities on motorcycles.
Based on reports, as of November 2021, Sokoto State, which has been plagued by a spiralling cycle of violence, had 17 communities across seven local government areas under the siege of bandits.
The areas mentioned include Sabon Birni, Gwadabawa Gada, Goronyo, Ilela, Isa and Tangaza with about 50,000 residents from 17 affected communities in Sabon Birni taking refuge at Shadakori, Dan Dadji Makaou and Garin Kaka villages in Maradi, Niger Republic.
Bandit leaders are said to have assumed the position of district heads in some of the communities and are compelling villagers to pay ransoms to access their farmlands.
In a report by The PUNCH, a former chairman of Sabon Birni Local Government Area, Idris Gobir, confirmed the development, amid police denial.
Gobir, who is also the Special Assistant to the Minister of Police Affairs, Muhammad Dingyadi, said, “The bandits are now in control of the entire eastern part of Sokoto State and no one dares challenge their authority. What more evidence do you need when they had the audacity to order the immediate reopening of three Juma’at mosques and the weekly (Tuesday) market in Gangara village against the order of the Sokoto State Government?’’
In December 2021, the state governor, Aminu Tambuwal, lamented that the state was under the grip of bandits and kidnappers, who have been terrorising residents.
Tambuwal lamented that the security situation was worsened by the influx of bandits and criminals displaced by the defective manoeuvres of security personnel deployed under the Operation Hadarin Daji, to end activities of bandits in Zamfara State.
Flight to stay alive
The unsettling development made many to flee their homes to seek refuge in nearby communities assumed to be safe, especially in Niger Republic.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the insecurity had led to forced internal displacement of 56, 6001 individuals into different parts of the state, while 80, 9002 are registered as refugees in Niger.
The UNHCR noted that ugly stories of murder, kidnapping for ransom and looting are common among the 11,500 Nigerians that arrived in the Niger’s Tahoua region since mid-November.
The UN agency revealed that Niger Republic now hosts over 200,000 Nigerian refugees, including 57,000 those from North-West Nigeria in Maradi region, and 15,000 in Tahoua region, adding that in total, some 600,000 refugees and internally displaced people live in the country.
An official of the agency, Emmanuel Gignac, said “This wave of attacks reflects the intense activity of criminal groups in northern Nigeria and raises fears of further displacement.”
Data from the International Organisation for Migration stated that at least 56,158 Nigerians were displaced by growing insecurity in 10 northern states of the country within the first three months of 2021.
The affected states, it noted are Benue, Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto, Borno, Gombe, Plateau and Adamawa, adding that the increased displacement figures points to growing cases of insecurity in the country.
Nigerians in the day, Nigeriens at night
As a way of surviving, some residents of Ilela resorted to conducting socio-economic activities during the day within Nigeria, only to return to Niger at night to sleep.
And this comes at a huge financial cost for someone like Kenneth. The daily commute, he lamented, was taking a toll on his health and finances, but admitted that it remained the best decision he had taken to keep his family alive.
The businessman told PUNCH Investigations that a typical day starts for him, his wife and five children at 4am — which was much earlier than it used to be when he lived in his house at Ilela.
Since his business and children’s school are located in the troubled community, Kenneth is forced to cross the border every day.
He added, “I have to wake up early to meet the family’s transportation needs and ensure that my children get to school in time.”
Our correspondent observed that travelling from Birni-N’Konni to Ilela was a dusty and bumpy 20-minutes ride to a police checkpoint at the border, before accessing a smooth road leading to Ilela.
Kenneth revealed that he plies the route at least four times a day, but that on some days, it could be more.
PUNCH Investigations learnt that on weekdays, the businessman drives his children to school in Ilela and returns to Birni-N’Konni, to prepare for the day’s business.
In the evening, after close of business activities, he again drives back with his family to sleep in Niger. This circle, it was learnt, goes on throughout the year.
“I can only say it has been difficult,” Kenneth told our correspondent, when asked how he had been coping.
“Waking them (children) up early in the morning for school has been difficult because we all wake up by 4am to prepare,” he added.
Despite opening up to our correspondent about his travails, Kenneth refused our correspondent access to his Ilela and Birni-N’Konni homes, citing security reasons.
The unsettled businessman, however, said the Nigerian government knew exactly what to do to curb banditry and insecurity bedevilling the region.
He said, “Government should do something. They know what they are meant to do. Bandits can’t overpower security agents if the Federal Government is willing to scale up the fight.”
Kenneth vowed to relocate his family permanently to Niger if the security situation got worse.
“I won’t have any option but to leave. It may be difficult but it is human lives we are talking about,” he added.
Squatting in a foreign land
Augustine Chukwugbata is another resident affected by the insecurity in Ilela and he also nurses great fear over his safety.
The 36-year-old, whose store is located opposite Kenneth’s, told our correspondent that he realised that the community was no longer safe after Kenneth’s ordeal.
“We were afraid when he was kidnapped and had to pay ransom for his release,” he told our correspondent with a worried expression.
Although Chukwugbata and Kenneth hailed from the eastern parts of the country and do the same type of business, their relationship had over the years, transcended that of mere business associates to deep friendship.
However, unlike Kenneth who was able to secure an accommodation with ease, when Chukwugbata decided to relocate to Birni-N’Konni, he could not immediately get an apartment and had to squat for a month with his family in an uncle’s place.
“I also built a house in Ilela but due to the insecurity, I relocated to Niger and rented a house. It is quite expensive to rent an apartment there,” he lamented. Chukwugbata stated that since he secured an apartment, had accommodated at least five Nigerians, who like him and Kenneth, spent only the night in the area.
Asides having to wake up early to embark on the torturous journey of 92 kilometres to Ilela for the day’s business, Chukwugbata said that Nigerians were exposed to several dangers during the daily commute.
He added, “When driving, you have to dodge trucks of various sizes, driven by mostly underage, reckless drivers.”
Sleep so expensive
Living in the foreign land does not seem to come cheap for Nigerians who opted to relocate to safety, our correspondent learnt.
PUNCH Investigations gathered that a decent two-bedroom apartment in Birni-N’Konni cost 60,000 CFA monthly, excluding charges for potable water and electricity.
The said sum, when exchanged at the official rate of one naira per 1.39 CFA, is about N42, 000. At the black market, which is the most patronised means of currency exchange for those within the region, it is one naira for one CFA, which is N60, 000.
Our correspondent, however, learnt that the same apartment can be rented for as low as N5, 000 monthly in Ilela.
“We don’t even make up to N60, 000 as profit in a week, but we have to keep enduring. I hope things can get back to normal. We are suffering,” Chukwugbata lamented.
Mistaken for bandits
Aside from the discomfort of daily commute and high cost of living in a foreign land, these Nigerians allege that they are being mistrusted by their host.
The mistrust stems from the fact that the natives are wary of being infiltrated by bandits, hence, are suspicious of visitors.
Abullahi Ibrahim, 68, was one of those who practically walked on egg shells to live in Niger with his family.
Although Ibrahim’s parents, who are Fulani, are from Ilela, he was born in Birni-N’Konni and had lived there all his life.
He recalled an incident that took place in September 2021, noting that not long after he received hundreds of displaced persons including his mother, who were survivors of an attack on Arab, a Fulani settlement in Ilela, he was accused of habouring bandits and reported to the authority.
He said, “There was a time that the governor and his cabinet members came to see my visitors at the Kaurar Laka area, because the natives suspected they were bandits. I told them what happened and explained that the visitors are my relatives. I also showed them documents indicating that we are taxpayers.
“The people lived in my house for over one month and left. Many more later took refuge here and I was responsible for their upkeep. The men slept in a school, while women with children slept in a tent. I received support from other Fulani, but no support came from the Nigerian government.”
Ibrahim lamented that the Nigerian authority had done nothing to help many of those fleeing to Niger, noting that he took care of his visitors and those that subsequently joined them with support from his kinsmen.
“I had to take a loan from a bank to ensure that they get fed. I am still paying back the loan, “Ibrahim said while flipping through the loan documents.
Home sick
Thirty–two-year-old Zahaan Muhammad was one of those initially accommodated by Ibrahim, until he was given a room to stay temporarily.
The distraught man revealed that he lost eight family members in one day after bandits torched their homes in the middle of night.
He said, “That night, I was resting with my family when I heard people shouting in Hausa language “kashe su” (kill them). They surrounded our community, entered and searched the houses. They later took me, my wife and children outside and beat me mercilessly with cutlass until I became unconscious. They left me bleeding until the police came and took me to the hospital.”
Muhammad survived the attack, but with a broken leg and had to undergo an open reduction and internal fixation surgery to get back on his feet.
He added, “It has been four months since the attack took place at Ilela. I miss home and I am willing to return when it is safe.’’
Like Muhammed, 60-year-old herder, Muhammad Abdullahi, who had been in Niger for six months after narrowly escaping being killed by bandits, also expressed willingness to return to Nigeria and start life all over again. He has also been commuting to Nigeria to make ends meet.
Abdullahi shares a room in an uncompleted building with his wife, nine children and several relatives.
When our correspondent visited, most of them were asleep on mats that were haphazardly laid.
Abdullahi said despite losing everything he worked for to the marauding gunmen, his heart craves home badly.
“The bandits took our cattle. I lost 30 cattle, including donkeys and horses. All the men here had their houses destroyed. None of us took a mat from our homes. We want to return home. The government should protect us from bandits when we return,” he appealed.
Abdullahi told our correspondent that since he moved to Niger, his children have not been able to continue with their education due to financial constraints.
The once successful herder is optimistic that the Sokoto State government or a non-profit organisation would come to his aid.
Banditry impacts humans
A development advocate and founder of Connected Development, Hamzat Lawal, said the humanitarian crisis in Ilela and other northern states would impact negatively on lives in the region and Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.
He said, “It impacts humans as they lose time and energy. Yes, some of them travel to Sokoto and Niger Republic every day to sleep, but they still have families who are still back in Ilela.
“It is quite clear that no one is safe in Nigeria. The crisis in the North-East has spilled to the North-West, particularly border communities. A lot of people now feel safer in Niger Republic. Sadly, this has economic implications. What would have improved our GDP is going to the Niger Republic.”
Lawal said the country was fast losing the fight against banditry and blamed it on information gaps and dishonesty on the part of the government.
He advised the government to shun politics and combat security threats headlong.
Thriving banditry
A senior lecturer at the Department of History, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Muritala Rufail said banditry was not entirely a new security threat. He noted that the danger was that bandits had become vicious in the past two years and acquired more sophisticated weapons.
The academic, who claimed to have conducted research on bandits for nearly a decade, said they (bandits) started with cattle rustling and metamorphosed into armed gangs that kidnap and kill students, travellers and residents.
He added, “From school children to older citizens, no one is spared.’’
In December 2021, Amnesty International stated that children in Nigeria had become the major target of bandits and that schools shut down indefinitely due to rising insecurity.
It revealed that over 780 children were abducted for ransom in 2021, while over 61 were still in captivity months after mass abduction.
The Director of Amnesty International in Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, said that Nigerian children deserved better than they were getting in terms of education and adequate security.
She added, “More than 780 children have been abducted for ransom since February 2021, during mass attacks on schools or religious institutions, with some of the children killed during the attacks.
“No child should go through what children are going through now in Nigeria. Education should not be a matter of life and death for anyone. Nigeria is failing children once again in a horrifying manner.”
Amnesty International had earlier reported that bandits killed at least 1,126 villagers across northern Nigeria between January and June 2020, and that about 380 people were abducted.
Banditry fuels poverty
Beyond the wanton killings carried out by bandits in the northern part of the country, economic activities have been grounded in affected communities, thus further threatening the country with high poverty rate, a professor of Social and Economic History, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, Mohammed Usman, said.
The Director for Centre of Peace Studies also noted that farming and trading activities in the affected areas had nearly stopped, adding that in terms of earning a living, people were finding it difficult to survive.
He said, “Insecurity has become so serious because of the spillover effect of the Nigerian army operation in some parts of Zamfara. Sokoto-east, where Ilela is situated close to Zamfara and most of the runaway bandits are now moving into the place.”
Futile govt efforts
While the Federal Government continued to embark on military offensives in the North-West, state governments have implemented measures such as telecommunications blockade, ban on motorcycles — a means of transportation explored by bandits, among others to checkmate insecurity.
Following the shutting down of telecom masts, millions of residents in states such as Kastina, Kebbi, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger and Kaduna were shut out of mobile and internet connectivity.
In Sokoto alone, 14 out of 23 local governments were disconnected, while the entire Zamfara was affected.
Although residents and rights activists believed that the measure further impoverished the already poor populace, security experts, however, saw the action as necessary in winning the war against banditry.
A retired military officer and former Army spokesperson, Sani Usman, shutting down of telecommunication service as part of measures to curtail banditry was necessary given the critical role communication play in perpetrating activities of terrorists, bandits and kidnappers.
He said, “There is no doubt that it played a significant role in assisting the government and security agencies in the fight against these criminal elements. Many of them were killed and their camps destroyed. They had no idea of ongoing operations, unlike in the past when their informants would alert them. One of the bandits’ kingpins openly complained about the measure.
“However, such measures should be complemented with other measures such as sustained and comprehensive offensives. Social security measures must as well be initiated for those negatively affected by the action because by nature of their trade, their livelihood depends on it.”
Ending banditry
Based on reports, Nigeria’s security operatives, especially those operating in hotbeds of insurgency, are still outnumbered by bandits who often raid communities in their hundreds.
This development was corroborated by the Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari,
In September 2021, the governor lamented that bandits in the North-West had outnumbered the security personnel in the zone and wanted vigilantes included in the war against the insurgents.
He explained that all the northern state governors intended was to employ 3,000 trained vigilantes and equip them with the help of police.
Masari said, “We have a situation in which the bandits are outnumbering the security forces. When you have volunteer forces that you’ve trained, that are willing to assist you, but the support and response by the military and the police are not encouraging.’’
Despite months of senseless killings and crippling of economic activities by bandits, the Federal Government never acceded to demands to designate them as terrorists, until November 26, 2021, amid outcry, a Federal High Court in Abuja, declared activities of bandits’ groups as acts of terrorism.
This followed an ex-parte application filed by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar, seeking to proscribe the grisly activities of the armed gangs.
The declaration raised optimism among Nigerians who always believed that such a move would help in the fight against the non-state actors.
Subsequently, the Federal Government officially published in its gazette the declaration of two bandits’ groups operating in the North-central and the North-western region of the country and other related organisations, as terrorists.
Despite designating bandits as terrorists, Usman, the ex-Army spokesperson, proffered strengthening of security infrastructure and involvement of stakeholders in local communities as lasting solutions to the activities of bandits.
State, local government silent
When contacted to speak on efforts made to resettle residents taking refuge in Niger Republic, the Chairman of Ilela Local Government Area, Salihu Aliyu said the government was doing its best to address the situation.
He refused to comment further and promised to get back to our correspondent. As of the time of filing this report, he had yet to respond.
Though the Sokoto State Chairman, Association of Local Government of Nigeria, Mustapha Shehu, refused to comment, he promised to contact Aliyu and get back to our correspondent. He had yet to do so and didn’t respond to calls to his mobile at the time this report was filed.
The Sokoto State Commissioner for Security and Career Studies, Col. Garba Moyi (retd), in his response to a text message sent to his mobile by our correspondent said he was not disposed to granting interviews on the phone to people he had yet to meet.
Text messages and calls were sent to the mobile of the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Governor, Muhammad Bello. In the messages, our correspondent sought to know what the state government had done to ameliorate the suffering of Ilela residents and others displaced by bandits, and who were taking refuge in Niger Republic.
Bello didn’t respond to the messages nor replied the calls as of the time of filing this report.
Defence Headquarters keeps mum
The Acting Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Bernard Onyeuko, refused to comment on this matter. He, however, referred our correspondent to a statement on efforts made by troops deployed to the North-West codenamed ‘Operation Hadarin Daji.’
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