Bauchi communities protest ejection by military

Vehicular movements into and out of Bauchi metropolis were yesterday afternoon disrupted for more two hours following a protest by some communities bordering the 33 Artillery Brigade, Bauchi.

The residents, under the umbrella of ‘Concerned Citizens of Shadawanka Communities Bauchi’, said they were out to protest ‘forceful eviction’ from their ancestral home.

It was gathered that the protesters were from Kundamu, Guru, Magama, Rafin Sani, Burum and Rugan Gambo communities located behind the Shadawanka Barracks, Bauchi situated along Bauchi-Jos road.

The protesters blocked the ever-busy Bauchi-Jos Road, close to the Zaranda Hotel, Bauchi, also a few meters to the gate of the Artillery Brigade, hindering motorists from going in and out of the Bauchi metropolis.

Motorists driving either into Bauchi or out of it were forced to look for alternative routes to continue their journeys. Others, especially trailers and petrol tankers, had to wait for over two hours before the road was later opened for them to continue their journeys.

Some of the protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as ‘Save Shadawanka Community from the Emirate Council’, ‘Free Shadawanka Communities from the Nigerian Army’, ‘Save Shadawanka Communities from land grabbers’.

The protesters, who included elderly men and women as well as children, said they would not agree to be ejected from their ancestral lands where they had lived for over 150 years.

They called on the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, to ‘come to our rescue and save us from being evicted by the Nigerian Army from the lands we have lived in for many, many years’.

The Secretary, Concerned Citizens of Shadawanka Communities Bauchi, Haliru Abdullahi, said that efforts by the people to get government’s intervention had not succeeded.

“We have written three different letters to the governor but nothing has been done. Then suddenly, yesterday, they came and told us to leave this place. We plead with the governor to intervene. They want to touch our lives and we have sold our lives for this cause and we are ready to give out our lives for this until they leave our lands for us.

“As I speak with you now, seven of our people have developed high blood pressure and two of them cannot even move around.

“We have nowhere to go to. If the government will give lands to IDPs who came into the state from other places free of charge, how can they now tell us who are indigenes of the state to leave our lands? To where? What is our crime?” he said.

(THISDAY)