Fr. Isaac Patrick Musa

The lies that have been fused together to form the content of security reports by the State government is unveiling. Facts and figures no longer correspond with each other. The chunk of our state’s funds have been embezzled under the guise of security votes. No visible effort has been put in the right direction to win the fight against insecurity in the State, especially in Kajuru Local Government, which is predominantly inhabited by Adara people.

It is no longer news that Kajuru and Chikun Local Government Areas of Kaduna State are now the domicile of Bandits and Terrorists. The state never won and is not winning and there is no hope that it will win the fight against terrorism in these local governments any time soon. These terrorists have succeeded in conquering and establishing their capital in Gwando, Kajuru Local Government, Kaduna State.

I was privileged to work in Idon Gida as a Parish Priest between 2014 to 2017. The Parish is made up of twenty Outstations (Villages). It was divided into four zones for easy administration. Two of these zones are Ungwan Pada Zone, composed of villages like Ungwan Pada, Mokoro Wambai, Mokoro Zankarya, and Ungwan Madaki; and Gwando Zone, similarly made up of Gwando, Barde I and Barde II. Presently, these villages have been conquered and taken over by terrorists. Gwando is said to be the new headquarter of the terrorists in Kajuru Local Government.

These villages never had any stranger or foreigner resident in their land. They do not have social amenities like good access road, clinics, market, primary and secondary schools, to even attract strangers. I used motor bike as the only means of transportation throughout my stay in the parish. At rainy season, their rivers were always filled up to the bream. They usually suspend all businesses and activities that will take them out of their villages when the rains are high. At dry seasons, truck drivers manage to meander their ways to these villages to convey farm produce, and to sale them in the markets at Kachia, Kajuru, Kufana and Kasuwan magani at give away prices.

In one of my previous articles, titled; Kaduna State Government Give us Enough Land to Bury our Priests, which I posted on my Facebook wall on 30th June, 2022, I said; “Bandits and Terrorists have an agenda: to instil fear, conquer territories and extort money forcefully from their victims.” This mechanism has worked in the above places mentioned.

These villages have fertile lands. This people cultivate their lands and barely apply artificial fertilizer to grow their crops. The major crops grown there are groundnut, soya beans, maze, yam, pepper, tomatoes and cotton. The vegetables are grown in all seasons. The people are very hard working, hospitable and generous too. They provided for my welfare through out the course of my sojourn in that place.

It is heart breaking to see that must of the churches we built and furnished have been burnt down. The villages have been sacked. The lands have been taken over by Bandits. Some of them are now refugees in Kachia, Kufana, Kujama, Maraban Rido and other safer places. Recently, bandits visited the rectory in Idon Gida more than three times. But God has spared the life of the priest working there. They never met him in the rectory during any of their visits. They riddled the house with bullets and damaged almost all the facilities in sight. Evidences of their visit are still very visible.

The campaign of conquest that the bandits are unleashing in Kajuru and other parts of Southern Kaduna is real. It is not a folkloric affair. And making this point here is not an exaggeration. The terrorists are gaining more grounds in these parts of the state. These villages mentioned above are about 45mns to 1hr drive (on motor bike) away from the Kaduna-Kachia high way. We have the Army, Navy, and Mobile Police stationed on this high way to create confidence in travellers who ply this road daily. But there is urgent need to go beyond just that.

My people are mere peasant farmers. They practice subsistence farming, using locally fabricated farm implements to cultivate their land. They cannot afford mechanized farming for commercial purpose. Even with the so called Agricultural polices designed by the Federal Government of Nigeria, this people remain out of reach. They are disadvantaged and disenfranchised from the benefits of governmental policies. And what is worse? They cannot defend themselves against these bad guys.

They have been beaten mercilessly, chased out like dogs from their ancestral land. They are hungry, homeless, tired and weak. Their widows, children, aged, disabled and the sick cry in anguish. But to who? Whenever I received a call from some of them and listen to their narrations, I feel very heartbroken. My eyes well up with tears. What a country! Her people have been abandoned to their fate.

The questions I have asked myself are: Does this people have a government that really cares for them? Who is their Local Government Chairman or Counsellor? Who is representing their constituency at the state or federal levels? Are the police and other security agencies not aware of these happenings? Does the scope of the Commissioner for Internal Security of the State not cover their geographical location? Was there any unknown arrangements to allow the bandits to settle in these affected areas? What else can one do in his little way to help out?

I weep and my heart bleeds for my people. The danger of loosing it all is staring them in the face. My people used to be proud of eating from the labour of their hands; but now they have been forced to live by begging arms to eat, to have shelter and to clothe themselves. Where have they erred to deserve this indignity done to them?

If we have a government that really cares for her citizens, I promise you, in no distant time, it will use every force to fight for you. If we have a government that values lives and properties, these bandits would have been living close to the gates of hell by now. I cannot help you either. The little effort I am making over here is to write and expose these evils happening to my people silently and unnoticed by many. Oh God! Our hope is placed on you, please remember your Children and come to their aid.

El-Rufai and Akintola won't end well as long as the long God is on throne and they have soft spot for religious bigotry