According to him, some locals now feel safe with the terrorists who now patrol some roads in broad daylight, fully armed.
A community leader in Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna state Zubair Abdurrau’uf has said the presence of Ansaru terror group is providing protection to the locals.
According to him, some locals now feel safe with the terrorists who now patrol some roads in broad daylight, fully armed.
Zubair said this on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, which was monitored by SaharaReporters.
“There’s a problem that’s coming up; the Ansaru of a thing. If you look at Giwa and Birnin Gwari, the Ansaru presence and dominance are still there. Nobody knows that, but in some areas, the Ansaru (terrorists) are patrolling the roads and you will see them with their arms and in even the military fatigues.
“And if you look at them, you won’t know their mission. So some of the locals feel secure with Ansaru and that’s why they have been cajoled into this terrorist groups, so also (there is) lack of strategy from security personnel which aggravates the problem of insecurity,” he said.
Zubair also said the terrorists are the ones in charge of communities in the eastern part of Birnin Gwari area, stressing that security agencies lack the right strategy to tackle insecurity.
He said, “Definitely they are in charge; if you go from Magada in Birnin Gwari local government to all Birnin Gwari up to Fatua, you will see these people and even if you have a problem and your vehicle breaks down, these people will come to your help. They will help you to check up your car, remove the tyre, take it to a vulcanizer in a nearby village and also come and fix it.
“And even some of them will give you water and then tell you bye-bye, they won’t say anything to you. The Ansaru (terrorists) are in charge of these roads and if they spot any armed bandits along that road, they chase them away, so they are in charge of that road. Presently as I’m talking to you, that is how that road is and that road is more secure than Kaduna to Birnin Gwari because the Ansaru (terrorists) were in charge of that Birnin Gwari Road and that’s why you have them.
“They are very prominent in Birnin Gwari and in the eastern part of Birnin Gwari and some parts of Giwa local government area, notably in six wards of Giwa local government area – Gidanda, Galadinmawa, Hanaki, Yakawada and to some extent Gandawa. These are the places you will find Ansaru and you have the bandits on the other side who are in the forests of UAC where they have their battle.”
He said the locals don’t have a choice but to prefer the presence of Ansaru terrorists to bandits who chase them out of their communities. He lamented the absence of security operatives in some areas.
“It’s a situation whereby, this one is a devil and you prefer a devil than somebody that will come and molest you and take over your community. This Anasaru presence as I’m telling you is very prominent, everybody who follows that road will feel secure but the locals there, they are being indoctrinated into this kind of ideology of this militant group. And that is what is happening in the whole eastern part of Birnin Gwari. The people feel more secure being with those terrorists, Ansaru, than with the bandits.
He also lamented the lack of political will on the part of the government that controls the security apparatus, saying the state government is helpless because they don’t control the police and the military.