Many Nigerians, especially in the south-west and
south-east are presently groaning as the fears of bandits’ attacks have truncated
any idea of taking children to villages for the long vacation.
A former Commissioner for Information, Abia State, Eze
Chikamnayo, who recently had encounter along one of the routes alleged to be
infested with bandits, took to his Facebook wall to narrate his experience last
week.
He said: “The time was around 5:30pm, as I drove from
Isuochi to Enugu, the unthinkable happened. This was just before UNTH after
Awgu junction. Suddenly, this hooded person jumped out of the bush in front of
me and started shooting at my Car. Before I could make anything out of it
another, three appeared a bit in front and bullets started flying everywhere. I
have been hearing about Fulani Herdsmen, but what I saw yesterday is better
imagined than experienced.
“The stories I have read on how these guys operate
and the ever abiding presence of Jehovah all worked in those few minutes. I was
determined not to stop. My Staff, Prince, who was on the passenger seat
literally passed out. As the bullets rained on my car, I kept speeding away.
About one kilometer from there, just before UNTH and NNPC Mega Station was a military
checkpoint. I heaved a sigh of relief and slowed down. I told the army guys
what was going on just behind their post. He casually told me that they were
aware.. that the driver in front of me just told them. I asked him why he was
still standing there without making any move to save the vehicles behind, and
he just looked at me blankly and waved me on.
“By now, my entire dashboard was full of red lights.
The temperature of my car hit the highest point on the meter. I slowly drove
down to the front of NNPC opposite UNTH and pulled the car out of the road. It
was then it dawned on me what happened. There were over 20 bullet holes in my
front fender. Most of these bullets hit directly at my radiator and other
things in front of the engine. The tyres which they were after didn't get a
scratch. There were also two bullet holes on the passenger side of the car. And
a few others around the booth.”
A concerned father, Ikechi, whose wife and children
braved the roads, from Lagos State to Imo State, disclosed that when his family
got to Owerri at about 10pm, everywhere was almost like a ghost town.
His words: “They couldn’t get a bus or cab to take
them to my village. They had to start frantically calling me. I advised them to
spend the night in a hotel and head to my village in the morning. I was made to
understand that due to herdsmen killings and fear, transporters now close on
time. I grew up in that state and I can tell you for free that before, as late
as 12am; one could see get buses to anywhere.”
Schools’ long vacations are what most parents and
children usually look forward to. Many prefer to send their children to their
villages to spend the holiday there. But today, the fear that their buses could
possibly be attacked by bandits operating in bushes along south-west and
south-east routes has made many to jettison such plans.
Mrs. Omolara, said that she wanted her son to go to
her village, which is in Ondo State, but has since trashed the idea. According
to her, she didn’t want either her or her son to become victims of herdsmen
attack.
Mr. Ade, also from Ondo State, said that he received
a phone call that his mother was sick. He was supposed to go and check on her,
but he was worried about the bandits on the highways. “I decided that it was
better and safer for me and everyone to send her money for treatment, than for
me to travel.”
Mr. Poju said that the seriousness of the situation
was sharply brought home after the relative of a church member died and nobody
wanted to follow the member to her village for the burial.
Poju said: “Our church member relative died. The
usual thing in our church was to go with such a person to her village for the
burial. She brought out two coaster buses, but only two members volunteered to
go with her. The woman started crying. But the truth is that everyone is afraid
of the bandits, who had taken over our roads.”
It was also along these routes that the leader of
the Yoruba group, Afenifere, Reuben Fasoranti’s daughter was killed. The
deceased, Funke Olakunrin, 58,was travelling from Akure to Ore
when her vehicle was attacked by bandits.
The former Lagos State Commissioner for Information,
Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan underscored the dangerous trend of the bandits operation
and how people have become imprisoned by fear.
Speaking on his Facebook wall on June 7, Bamigbetan
revealed the panic that had taken control of his friends over accounts of
bandits abducting travellers along the Ibadan - Ife route. He noted that the
news has also travelled to Nigerians in diaspora.
According to him, when he called a source at the governor’s
lodge in Oshogbo, the source told him that the bandits’ attack was one that the
Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, was determined to unravel.
Bamigbetan wrote: “I called palace sources in Ife.
They confirmed that the Fulani kidnap on the Ibadan -Ife route has continued,
particularly between 6am to 8am and 5am - 8pm. A source said five police
checkpoints and two patrol units have been deployed by the government and were
working. I called a top friend of mine to advise. His analysis was intelligent.
The Fulani invaders were not the nomadic herdsmen. They were those who settled
in these areas in the last 10 years by buying farmlands to crop from hungry
local chiefs. This explains their familiarity with the terrain. When they invite
their brothers to come and work on the farms and those ones arrive and realise
that Yoruba youths have fled the farms, they also decline farm work and resort
to criminal options. Police and by extension, FRSC's arrest of the Fulani
kidnappers is not feasible because the kidnappers engage in random ambush of
unsuspecting travelers and in three minutes, return to the bush...So the
conclusion: keep away from Ibadan to Ife road in those unholy hours to be safe.”
Although there are speculations that some herders
have taken over the highways on the instructions of the government to challenge
the bandits’ attacks, their presence and news of their presence, has not abated
the fears in the hearts of Nigerians.
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