The discussion on the supposed connection of some influential Nigerians with the armed organisations in the North gained a new dimension when a guy who introduced himself as Hassan narrated how his childhood association with a notorious bandit leader, Dogo Gide, reportedly allowed him a strange access to persons in Gide’s circle.
Hassan, whose allegations against a Senator (name withheld) have since gone viral on social media said his relationship with Gide was not a consequence of any criminal dealings but dated back to their childhood days when both men grew up in the same community and were friends, reports Sunday Vanguard.
The North senator has dismissed the charges of being linked to banditry, challenging Hassan to provide evidence before the relevant security institutions.
The legislator said reports had been made to security officials on the claims and investigations had led to arrests and the subject was now in court.
Hassan stated he later moved from the North to Rivers State where he said he was brought up and acquired formal education, while Gide stayed in the community and later got involved in banditry.
That bond from infancy became important years later, when Hassan saw Gide again in situations involving his work at the residence of the legislator, Hassan said.
Hassan said his education allowed him to witness and record activity near the senator’s residence that he deemed suspicious.
He said he then began to discreetly record and keep information he felt could reveal those allegedly involved in criminal activity.
The man also claimed to know some of the persons he said were involved in banditry before they engaged in illegal activities, which he said made him familiar with Gide and other persons said to be involved in banditry.
“I know Dogo Gide very well because we grew up in the same community and were childhood friends,” Hassan stated in an interview that has been circulated online.
He said Gide had no formal education and didn’t know how to use a mobile phone properly, which Hassan then said he exploited to collect recordings which he kept on a memory card.
Hassan further said his work was later found in the senator’s home and he was supposedly given orders to be killed. But he said Gide, who had chosen a different route, privately alerted him about the plot and helped him escape.
Hassan said he eventually departed Nigeria, bringing with him items he alleged held evidence of crimes he had witnessed.
Some of the goods were lost during his escape, he said.
However, the Senator has vigorously denied the charges.
Refusal
In an interview with a radio station, the legislator said his relationship with Hassan began when the latter was presented to his organization as an orphan looking for help with his schooling.
He stated he had funded Hassan’s schooling and also helped him have access to both conventional and Islamic education.
He later said he got worried when Hassan decided to give up his education and become a car dealer.
The senator further claimed that Hassan had covertly collected images and films of visitors to his home before the relationship ended.
He disputed charges linking him to banditry and dared Hassan to present evidence to the relevant security forces.
He said there had been complaints made to security officials about the claims and investigations had resulted in arrests in the case, which is now in court.
The new dispute erupted after Hassan identified the senator as the person he had previously denounced without naming him.
In an interview that went viral, Hassan also said that certain people related to Gide were brought to Abuja and linked the development to the senator’s circle.
Those assertions have not been independently checked.
But Gide is not a new name in Nigeria’s security landscape. Vanguard reported in May 2021 that a leader of bandit groups operating in areas of Niger and Kaduna states was a bandit chieftain popularly known as Mallam Dogo Gide.
The Nigeria Police also announced in October 2023 that a suspect detained for the abduction of students of Federal Government College, Yauri confessed to have participated in the operation with Kachala Dogo Gide, described by the police as a gang leader who led about 100 men during the raid.
The repeated charges have therefore sparked issues about the extent to which criminal networks may reach beyond their narrow operating circles, particularly in communities with long-established social and family connections.
Hassan keeps making complaints and sharing supposed evidence, but the reports available show the claims against the senator have not been proven in a court of law.
Political career
The legislator has insisted that the charges are meant to smear his character and political career and called on Hassan to give any proof he has to security agents for thorough examination.
The controversy thus leaves two competing narratives: Hassan’s claim that his childhood acquaintance with Dogo Gide and his future experiences gave him information about an alleged network around influential personalities, and the senator’s stance that Hassan was a recipient of his educational support who later turned against him.
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