Burra communities in Ningi Local Government Area of Bauchi State have allegedly paid over N72mn as ransom to bandits to secure the release of their abducted kinsmen last year.
Ningi Local Government Chairman Mamuda Hassan Tabla stated this while speaking with journalists in Bauchi on Thursday.
He said “We received complaint from farmers associations from Burra communities about the influx of strangers from Zamfara State, they settled in the bush, cutting trees and engaging in farming in the area.
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“They even built a Jumaat Mosque and, after they settled there, the communities witnessed series of abductions of their people. And if a person is abducted, they will ask him to take ransom to Zamfara. Within the last one year the community said they paid over N72m as ransom.”
Mamuda added that “when we received the report and investigated the matter, the present administration inherited the problem because, we understood that people from other states started settling into the bush since 2012, and series of kidnapping are taking place even in Ningi town.
“But when we came I reported the matter and their complaint to his Excellency the Executive Governor of Bauchi State Senator Bala Mohammed, who sat with us three times on security issues in our area and he took urgent action to address the problem. Fighter Jets ransacked the bush and cleared criminals from Lame Burra game reserve.”
The governor “also deployed security personnel to protect the people and we recruited hunters and vigilantes as part of effort to protect the lives and properties of our citizens, which reduced the activities of bandits in our area”.
He said the communities are afraid that the activities of the people kidnapping their kinsmen and they are gradually taking way their farms which, by extension, is putting them in abject poverty, because they paid ransom and they lost their farms.
Mamuda said “we met with traditional rulers and security operatives and all relevant stakeholders. We are compiling the report and we will take it to the state government for necessary action.”
He commended the Governor Bala Mohammed for his prompt response on issues that affect the security and well being of the society “especially the laudable development projects that has direct bearing to the lives of people being executed by his government, the projects are scattered to all nooks and crannies of Ningi local government areas”.
The chairman listed some of the projects to include construction mass housing, schools, siting Mega school in Ningi, provision of water, and building of hospitals and maternities.
It would be recalled that last February, a prominent politician in the area Alhaji Mato Burra was abducted by unknown gunmen and his family paid ransom to the bandits in Zamfara State, but up till today the communities are yet to hear anything about him.
Recently also, the District Head of Lame Sarkin Yakin Bauchi raised the alarm over the presence of strangers in Lame Burra forest, noting that their presence poses a threat to security of lives and properties in Toro and Ningi local government areas of Bauchi State.
