In June 2021, bandits under the command of Dogo Gide stormed the Federal Government College in Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State, and took 100 female students hostage. They were held in captivity for eight months and finally freed after ransom was paid.
In December, 2020, about 400 students of Government Secondary School Kankara, Katsina State, were also attacked and taken hostage by bandits. They were later released after a negotiation. Although former Information Minister Lai Mohammed claimed that no ransom was paid, independent media sources said that their freedom was not free. Do you think moral and humanitarian appeals could make bandits release their hostages without receiving a kobo?
In April 2021, about 20 students of the Greenfield University in Kaduna were kidnapped by bandits. They were held in captivity for one month. Their parents had to cough up N400 million as ransom before their children could regain their freedom.
In May, 2021, bandits attacked the Tegina Islamic School in Niger State and took 136 students hostage. Most of victims were teenagers. They were held captive for three months. Six of the children had died in captivity as a result of illness. The impoverished parents were helpless; part of the school building had to be sold in order to raise over N60 million as ransom.
On March 28, 2022, a passenger train was attacked by terrorists on its way from Abuja to Kaduna. They took 61 passengers hostage and held them in captivity for 191 days. The train attack scandal was the biggest ransom ever paid by the relatives of the victims. Around one billion naira was reportedly paid as ransom. The ransom payment also revealed the naivety of the government in the name of negotiation. When terrorists took the train passengers, they told the government that they are not interested in ransom. They said they only wanted the government to free their commanders and wives who were being held. The Buhari administration agreed and released their commanders and their wives from custody. But as soon as the government fulfilled its own part of the deal, the terrorists reneged on their own commitments. They refused to free the train passengers and started negotiations for ransom with the relatives of the victims.
More kidnappings have taken place than I have listed above. I however primarily focused on the attacks involving students in the light of the latest incident in Zamfara State where over 60 female students of the Federal University Gusau were attacked and taken hostage by bandits. They are still in captivity.
Bandits were smiling to the banks with impunity. They are collecting taxes from the communities under their siege and this is happening under the watchful eyes of the government. This is not the first incident of kidnappings involving students, but this is the first time I have seen Arewa youths and Kannywood actors staging protests against insecurity in North with hashtags on the social media.
For eight years, our actors were indifferent to the state of insecurity in the North. While the people were bleeding, Rarara and other Arewa entertainers were busy receiving contracts from politicians and pretending as if nothing was happening in the North. Our Islamic clerics are no less culpable than these Kannywood entertainers. Those who attempted to protect against insecurity in the past were branded “yan iska” (rascals) by our clerics. The clerics are now shouting themselves hoarse, threatening political consequences of abandoning Arewa to its own fate. The current efforts to mobilize Arewa for protests against insecurity failed largely because those involved lack the credibility to be taken seriously. The people of Southern Kaduna came to Abuja to protest against insecurity in the past, but they were dismissed as troublemakers. We didn’t join them, despite the fact that we were common victims. We politicised the issue because our own was in power; now we want to mobilise Arewa for protests because we are no longer in power. Hypocrisy disgusts me!
