Janjala community in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State, like some villages in the state, have been under attack by bandits, but Janjala has been worst hit by activities of bandits who invade the community and operate for several hours unchallenged. Daily Trust Saturday reports.
Janjala (about three kilometres from Kagarko town) inhabitants are mostly peasant farmers with several Fulani camps as observed when Daily Trust Saturday visited the community on Saturday.
Some neighbouring villages to Janjala, such as Kuchimi, Taka-Lafiya, Gidan Makeri, Kuku and Iddo, were also not spared by the activities of bandits who invade these communities on motorcycle and whisk away victims into the forest unchallenged.
Daily Trust Saturday gathered that Janjala suffered the worst attack by bandits, as there is no week that passes by without a report of a resident being abducted or killed by bandits.
Daily Trust Saturday, however, gathered that Janjala first came under bandits’ attack at Anguwar Janruwa and Rugann-Ardo on December 13, 2022, when the son of a Fulani chief, Alhaji Hussaini Ardo, and the Chief Imam of Nomadic Central Mosque, Isiyaka Adamu, were shot dead while 14 residents were abducted.
Aside the abduction of the 14 residents who are still in captivity till date, bandits were reported to have returned to Janjala at Anguwar Korawa on December 16, 2022, and abducted 11 residents, including eight family members, and whisked them away into the forest.
Some of the abducted victims, were later freed after huge ransom, motorcycles as well as foodstuffs were said to have been purchased for them.
At neighbouring Gidan Makeri village, near Janjala, bandits had on January 16, 2023, abducted eight persons comprising of three male adults, two women and three children, after a raid on the community.
A ransom of N8 million, as well as two new motorcycles were reported to have been presented to the abductors by family members before the victims were set free.
Also, on February 21, 2022, bandits invaded Janjala, where they reportedly abducted family members comprising of a woman, two of her female daughters and a male child, whose names were Hauwa, Ummi, Sadiya and Abubakar.
It was, however, gathered that the husband was not home when the bandits struck. Upon his return from a trip, the woman’s husband was said to have sourced for N3m and also purchased a new motorcycle and food for the bandits before his family regained their freedom.
On February 5, 2023, another family comprising of a husband, identified as Mustapha, wife – Shamsiya and their 16-year-old daughter, Mahapuza, were abducted. Daily Trust Saturday gathered that Mrs Shamsiya was 7-month pregnant when she was abducted by the bandits.
The sum of N2m was reportedly collected by the abductors with the assurance to free the victims, but only the woman’s husband was set free while his pregnant wife and their 16-year-old daughter were held back in captivity. The abductors then demanded another N2m ransom and a motorcycle for their release.
However, the pregnant woman, it was gathered, remained in captivity with her daughter, where she delivered a baby which the bandits seized and killed, before the woman was released and her 16-year-old daughter still held back.
The killing of the new born baby threw the entire Janjala community into mourning, even as the woman’s husband, Mustapha, was compelled to dispose of some of his properties to raise another N2m and also purchase a motorcycle before his daughter, Mahapuza, was freed on Sunday, March 5, 2023 after nine weeks in captivity.
Mustapha, who relocated to Kagarko town where our reporter met with him, said the attack on his family by bandits will continue to be one of his saddest encounters.
He, however, recalled how the bandits strangled his wife’s newborn baby after she delivered at the bandits’ den, saying some abducted women helped his wife to deliver the baby when she was in labour.
“I know the traumatic experience my pregnant wife and my daughter went through in the hands of these bandits, especially my wife who delivered a baby in their camp. They seized the baby from her and strangled the baby before asking her to go home after two months in captivity,” he said amid tears.
He said his daughter was held captive for nine weeks and was only freed after the bandits collected another N2m and a motorcycle.
Mustapha, however, did not allow our reporter access to speak with his family, saying his wife had travelled to see her mother in a village in Jere.
Also on February 11, 2023, bandits reportedly shot and killed the senior wife of a Fulani chief, Hulaira Hassan Ardo, after her abductors had collected N2m ransom from the family. Ardo’s wife was abducted at Rugan Ardo in Janjala, during a raid in which the Imam of Nomadic Central Mosque was killed by the bandits.
Daily Trust Saturday further gathered that three villages adjoining Janjala – Taka-Lafiya, Kutar and Kala in Kagarko Local Government Area of the state, also came under attack by bandits. Three persons were reportedly killed and 16 others kidnapped.
The incident, it was gathered, occurred on March 26, 2023, when the bandits raided the three villages, including a Fulani settlement in the area.
However, these spate of attacks by bandits in Janjala and neighbouring villages have forced some residents to flee from their homes and relocate to Kagarko town, Jere, Bwari as well as Gwagwalada in the FCT.
The Madaki of Janjala, Aliyu Ibrahim, said 80 per cent of his subjects, especially women and children, have relocated from their homes to neighbouring towns for safety due to incessant attack by the bandits.
“In fact, most of our women and children have fled their homes to neighbouring towns in Kaduna and the FCT because of fear of being abducted by bandits.
For the past three to four months, we’ve been under siege by bandits as there is no week that passes by without report of someone being kidnapped or killed by bandits,” he said.
According to him, the incessant kidnapping has prevented farmers, especially those who have farms far away from their homes, from going to their farms over fear of being abducted by bandits.
“Thank God you visited my community to see things for yourself. You know there was heavy rainfall yesterday night, which would have prompted people to be in their farms working but the few people around have remained at home for fear of being abducted,” he said.
Ibrahim appealed to authorities of Kagarko Local Government Area to liaise with the state government by deploying troops to the community in order to tackle cases of abduction by bandits in the area.
“Although in the past one week, some of my subjects are gradually returning home, especially those that have farms at their backyard, but after work, they go back to Kagarko town to sleep and then return back in the morning,” he added.
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