Mother and child, two sisters hacked to death - Wicked People!

• Some of the dead victims

Horror in Bauchi
3 houses razed, several injured in night attack on villagers
From PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi
It was a night of horror. Fear and anxiety filled the air. Confusion and pain was the order of the day recently at Gargare, a village in Bogoro Local Government Area of Bauchi State. Four persons, including a mother and her eight-year-old daughter, as well as two other children, were killed while several others received varying degrees of machete cuts.

 Three houses in the community were also set ablaze when suspected Hausa-Fulani men attacked the village.
 Similar attacks had also occurred in Bar Arewa, Kuru Dodo and Kutaru Sayawa villages earlier in the year which claimed several lives and property.

 The attacks on Sayawa villages became pronounced after a crisis erupted in Tafawa Balewa, a troubled town in the state in January between Hausa-Fulani Muslims and Sayawa Christians.

 There is no love lost between the two ethnic groups, a mutual suspicion rooted in politics but assuming a bloody religious coloration.
 “No fewer than 12 people have been killed in three months, in most barbaric, uncivilised and wicked attacks,” says Barrister Bukata Zyadi.

 Zyadi, who serves as the Secretary, Sayawa Council of Elders and Traditional rulers, belives the killings are perpetuated by the Hausa Fulanis.
 He says his people, the Sayawa, now live in fear, not knowing which village would be the next target.
 One of the five survivors is Mrs Esther Yakubu, 55, currently receiving treatment at the General Hospital, Bogoro with the others.

 Esther’s left hand was chopped off from the wrist while the three fingers on her right hand were severed with machetes. The mother of seven also got machete cuts on the head and legs. Most of them received life-threatening cuts.
 Esther says she did not know that the worst awaited her as she left Bogoro for Gargare the previous day. She says she had been battling with diabetics and hepatitis for many years.
 Speaking with Daily Sun on her hospital bed, Esther, a ward attendant with Bogoro General Hospital, recalled how she lost her left hands and three fingers in the attack.

 Esther who was writhing in pain, said: “I was in Bogoro working in the hospital when I started feeling sick. I decided to go and see my parents. At night, I was asleep when I heard gunshots. I wanted to come out but somehow I stayed back. Then I heard Rifkatu shouting. When I ran out, I saw a man hitting her with a machete. Another man attacked me. As he raised the machete to cut me in the head, I raised my hand and he cut it off. There was blood everywhere and I fell down. When they saw blood they left me. They moved to Laraba and killed her.”
 Twelve-year old Laraba Samaila and her mother, Rifkatu Samaila, 40, were also macheted to death. Two sisters - Gloria Zakka, 10 and Martha Zakka- were also killed by the merchants of death during the unfortunate attack on the village which occurred around 1:00 am.

 Rifkatu’s eldest daughter, Saratu Samaila, 18 was trying to feed her three-month-old son when the attackers stormed the village. Quite miraculously, she survived with her baby.
 Saratu, who is still in shock, however received various machete cuts on her head, legs and arms while her son received minor cuts on the face.

 Even now, she isn’t aware that her mother, Rifklatu, and her sister, Laraba are dead.
 The nursing mother whose baby received minor wounds as a result of the attack recalled:  “I was with my baby when they came. He was crying and I wanted to breastfeed him when I heard knock on the door. I heard noises around. I was trying to block the door but they were trying to come in. They pushed the door and came in. They cut me on my head and leg and I fell down. The pain was too much. I was afraid, so I held my baby to my chest. Then I heard voices calling my name but I was confused. They shook me severally but I did not respond. I held my baby tight. I did not want anything to harm him because I love him so much. I thought they were Fulani people. I was afraid. But it was my father. He called me and I answered and he told me not to be afraid.”

 Another survivor, Rebecca Zakka, a mother of six, said she was in her room when they attacked her with three of her children.  Her youngest child, Gloria Zakka, was killed. Rebecca, 48, is critically injured and lying at the Bogoro Specialist Hospital with her daughter, Mary, and her son, Mbubchang, 10.
 Rebecca narrated: “I was in my room when I heard gunshots. The next thing I knew was that the door was kicked open. I got up from my mat where I lay. Then I heard two of my children shouting. Before I knew it, they had entered the room and were hitting me with machetes all over my body, including my head.”

 Rebecca’s daughter, Mary, 15, said she saw how her two sisters, Glory and Martha were killed.
 Weeping on her hospital bed as she narrated the story, the SS I student of Community Secondary school, Gobbya said:  “I was with my sister, Gloria, in the room sleeping when we heard the gunshots. We became afraid. I asked Gloria to stand up so that we can hide. Then we heard more gunshots. I told her that we should open the door and run. We opened the door and saw people with torches. We ran out and they started pursuing us.

 I saw Jinhina , my cousin running. I followed him and Gloria followed me. I fell down as I was running and one man cut me on my leg, head and hand. I was struggling and I escaped but he caught Gloria as she ran into us. He hit her on the face and she died.”
 One of the villagers, Elisha Hamma, a farmer, said he stood up when he heard gunshot sounds in the dead of the night.
 “I heard the cries of the victims but I was too scared to come out.  I removed the white shirt I was wearing. My family was inside their room. I knocked on the door to their room and they answered. I asked them to open the door and we escaped through the backyard.

 “As we were running, we saw them setting some houses on fire. My uncle,whose wife and three children were attacked, has been sick and was taken to another village for treatment. I called him and told him that his family had been attacked. His daughter was killed and his wife and two other children were hospitalised. He said he had left everything in the hands of God.”

 Zyadi, while speaking with Daily Sun in Tafawa Balewa, lamented the nonchalant attitude of the state towards the recent killings in Bogoro and Tafawa Balewa villages which he said began since the January, 2011 crisis in Tafawa Balewa.

 He said in the last three months alone, 12 people in the community have been hacked to death.
 Zyadi said: “These barbaric, uncivilised and most wicked acts against the Seyawa nation has been on since 1991 to date, and the government of Bauchi State is very much aware of the development. But it’s nonchalant about the crisis and putting an end to it.

 “Since the recent episode, from January, 2011 till date, even the security agents posted to Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro are very much aware of these killings. But they don’t care to solve the problem. The soldiers posted here when these killings are happening prevented our people from saving their loved ones. Soldiers were around when it happened in Bar Arewa village, Kurum Dodo village and Kutaru village, yet the soldiers remained mute when the killings were taking place. They are aware but nobody is investigating it.”

 The Sayawa leader said based on this, the community has no doubt that the security agencies know about the killings and alleged that they were in support of the attacks against the Sayawa nation.
 He wondered why any right thinking person would make women and innocent children target of attacks.
 “Our appeal is that women NGOs should come to our aid, especially UNICEF to condemn the killings of these girls. What is the position of the girl child education in Bauchi State if these girls are being killed mercilessly? We are appealing to non-governmental organisations to come to the aid of the community, especially on the recent killings of women and children in the area. The Christians in the north, especially the Middle Belt should rise up and condemn these killings.

 “It is a shame that nobody is talking and the government is not showing any interest. It is unfortunate.”
 Bauchi State Commissioner of Police, Ikechwukwu Aduba, said: “We received the report but I don’t have the details yet. We are trying to get the report from the Divisional Police Officer. You know the problem in the area before now but we have restored peace there, except these little things. But we want to encourage them to form vigilante groups in the communities so that whenever they notice such things, they can inform us so that we can act immediately.”
 The CP regretted that there are perennial feuds at the Tafawa Balewa axis, saying the recent attacks are “occasioned by Sayawa, Hausa/Fulani feud cum religious crisis.”

 The police boss said: “Having identified these flashpoints and the antecedent security challenges, we remain undaunted and have since strategised with the aim of permanently remaining on top of the situation with the firm resolve to ensure public safety.”

 Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) in charge of operations, Alhaji Audu Abubakar, while absolving security operatives of any involvement in the crisis in the area, added that security agencies would not succeed in keeping peace in the area unless the communities resolved to live in peace among them.

 The police chief who spoke on the Tafawa Balewa/Bogoro crisis during a tour of commands in the northeast, said: “I see no reason why fellow Nigerians cannot live peacefully with each other. The security agencies are not fighting the communities. There are roles that traditional, community and religious leaders must play in cooperation with the security agencies to achieve lasting peace.

 “The different communities must embrace peace and stop this unnecessary fighting. It is uncalled for. Police are not the combatants; it is the warring communities that are the combatants, so nobody should blame the security agencies.”
 Chief Press Secretary to Governor Isa Yuguda, Mr. Ishola Michael Adeyemi, said the state government had taken several measures including the creation of Sayawa Chiefdom and districts as a way of bringing peace to the area.
 Ishola said it was not true that the government had been nonchalant, saying that no responsible government would sit and watch people being killed in any part of the state.

 Ishola assured that the government would not relent in pursuing all necessary avenues to achieve peace. He called on the people of the community to cooperate with the government and security agencies to nip the problem in the bud once and for all.
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