A 27-year-old man, who
introduced himself as Shenu Sani, has told how he joined a gang just to embark
on wanton killings of people, including women and children in order to take
possession of their victims’ cattle.
Shenu is one of the four
men arrested by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police’s Special
Intelligence Response Team (IRT) for murder, robbery and cattle rustling.
The IRT operatives were
said to have listened in shock as Shenu regaled them with chilling tales of how
he and other members of the gang burnt people alive in their homes just because
they desperately wanted to take over their cows.
He disclosed that there were
different gangs carrying out similar operations, with different names. According
to him, be belonged to Buharin Daji’s gang.
He revealed that he is
one of the many commanders of Buharin Daji. He said that the gang used to kill
their victims, who are mainly inhabitants of remote villages within Zamafara
State. He said that these victims were
mostly killed because they put up resistance, attempting to prevent the gang
from carting away their cattle.
Shenu, who said that he
is from Bauchi State, added that he is a farmer and rears cows. He has two
wives and four children.
He added: “I joined the
Buharin Daji’s gang because I needed to protect my cattle from been rustled. If
you are a member of any of the group, your cattle will not be rustled. I
have gone to several operations with Buharin Daji in Zamfara State. Our
intentions were mainly cattle rustling, but some of the villagers used to try
to put up resistance.
“They attempt to prevent
us from carting away their cattle. At that point, they leave us with no option
than to kill and burn their houses before carting away their cattle. Some of
the villages set up vigilante groups, but this didn’t deter us. We fought
and killed them before taking their cows away. Buhari Daji pays me N5000 after
each killing and cattle rustling.”
Incidentally, Buharin
Daji, who formed the gang and named it, was killed by another gang identified
as Dogo Dide’s gang. Shenu said that Buhari Daji and some of his men were
ambushed and killed while heading for a peace meeting at Zamfara State.
“Our group is presently
being controlled by Nagala, but I had no intention to kill anyone. I only
wanted cattle,” said Shenu, sounding remorse.
It was gathered that Shenu
and others were arrested after the IGP, Ibrahim Idris, became worried over the
alarming increase of murder, kidnap and cattle rustling in Zamfara State.
A preliminary
investigation revealed that some groups of bandits, which specialised in
killing and cattle rustling were behind the mayhem in the state.
The IGP instructed IRT
operatives, led by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, to
investigate the incidents and bring the situation under control. It was in the
course of the investigation that Shenu and his cohorts, Hamisu Sani, Yusuf
Mande and Lawal Abubakar, were arrested. The police were said to have trailed
them to their hideouts in Bauchi and Zamfara states.
An IRT source said that
the four suspects were arrested through the aid of intelligent gathering and
deployment of advance technologies.
Police sources further
disclosed that the suspects, who were mainly Fulani natives confessed during
interrogations to be commanders of Buharin Daji’s group.
Buharin Daji, who
controlled a large network of bandits and cattle rustlers across major northern
states, was killed in March 2018, along with some of his lieutenants by a rival
cattle rustling gang, led by Dogo Gide.
Buharin Daji was
silenced after he led his men to steal hundreds of cattle from Dogo Gide’s
father in-law in Zamfara State. Even though Buharin Daji was dead, members of
his gang had continued from where he stopped, killing and rustling their
cattle.
One of Buharin Daji’s
arms suppliers, Lawal Abubakar, was arrested in Zamfara State. He confessed to
have supplied over 10 AK-47 assault rifles to a group.
His confessions aided
IRT operatives in catching three other commanders of the Buharin Daji’s gang.
Another commander, Yusuf
Mande, 30, who is married with seven children, said he joined the gang because
some vigilante men from a neighbouring village attacked his, burning down his
house in the process. They also carted away over 120 of his cows. Since that
incident, vengeance was a living flame, burning in Mande’s heart.
He confessed: “We’re
responsible for most of the killings within Zamfara State. I joined Buhari
Daji’s group in 2014 because some people from Ruwanmesa village came to my
village and set fire on more 30 houses, including mine. They took away over 120
of my cows. Ruwanmesa people are not Fulanis, and they accused our people of
rustling their cattle. They brought their vigilante to attack and burn down
houses. Before then, I had never stolen anyone’s property. I got
angry and joined the Buhari Daji group because he had a lot of men and
uncountable number of guns.
“I needed to retaliate;
after I joined the group, I told Buhari Daji what happened in my village. He
brought his men and we attacked Ruwanmesa village. We killed everyone,
including women and children. We took away over 50 cows; I was given only one.
I also joined in the attack of Mashema in Maru Local Government Area. We killed
every one in the village; this was in May 2017. We attacked the Mashema because
their people attacked a Fulani village and killed its inhabitants in Zanfara
State. After we attacked Mashema, we took away 40 cows and seven camels.
I was given one cow after the operation. I left Zamfara to Bauchi State
because the Zamfara State Government offered amnesty to cattle rustlers and
people carrying out killings within the state.
“Our leader, Buhari Daji
warned us not to accept the amnesty. He vowed to kill anyone who accepted
it. That was the reason I relocated with my two wives and family.
Buharin Daji, before he died, got angry and seized all the cows I had when he
learned I had accepted government amnesty. He threatened to kill me. I
was in Bauchi State when Buhari Daji was killed by Dogo-Dide.”
Telling his own side of
the story, the alleged arm supplier, Abubakar, explained that he made only N20,
000 from the supply of 10 pieces of AK-47. Abubakar, who is married to
three women, has 23 children. Like most of the gang members, he rears cattle.
He recounted: “Buharin
Daji approached me; he said that he needed AK-47 rifles. He gave me N1.8million.
I got the arms from Alhaji Suleiman at Bariki-Ladi Plateau State. We hid
the arms inside a Volkswagen Vectra and took them to Buhari Daji in Zamfara
State. Five days later, Buhari Daji sent me another N1.8million to buy
another five set of Ak-47 rifle, I made N20, 000 for that deal.”
No comments:
Post a Comment