Fulani bandits take annual N2.52 bn ransom from Abia communities

Sopuruchi Onwuka,

Gangs of deadly bandits operating kidnap syndicates in the northern parts of Abia State have killed over 1000 indigenes and extort annual N2.52 billion from relatives of their hostages. And community youths call on the government to deploy security forces to flush out the criminals.

In a Save-Our-Soul message to Governor Alex Otti of the state, a committee of youth leaders in the state decried the siege by kidnappers on the area and also demanded that all members of the crime syndicate be fished out and punished according to the law.

The Oracle Today reports that commuters from several communities in Umunneochi local government area of Abia State have since 2016 regularly fallen victims of routine attacks launched by Fulani bandits operating from the Lokpanta cattle market in the area.

According to a coalition of youth associations in local government area, “about N2.52 billion have been paid to the assailants as ransom, another N200 million has been spend on medical treatment for the wounded most of whom do not survive.”

In the appeal to the governor, four zonal coordinators of the youth coalition called for immediate deployment of permanent anti-terrorist security patrol teams to burst the crime syndicate and bring the perpetrators to book.  

The petition was signed by Barr. Chetachi Obi –Nwoke for Zone 1, Comrade Kevin C. Obi for Zone 2, Mr Azubuike Emmanuel C. for Zone 3, and Hon. Chinemerem Nwankwo for Zone 4. They appealed to the governor “to urgently save our communities from brutal armed attacks by Fulani herdsmen operating from the Lokpanta cattle market.”

The Oracle Today reports that over 50 Fulani bandits had on June 24, staged multiple and coordinated attacks along the Leru-Lomara Junction, leaving behind a tale of horror and blood as they unleashed gun attacks on commuter buses and force drivers to lose control of vehicles. Victims of the attacks which lasted for over an hour narrated that the bandits took the abducted commuters including the severely wounded hostage in exchange for huge ransoms.

The youth leaders informed the governor that “this mode of attack has become routine in all the roads connecting Umunneochi communities to the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway.”

Since 2016 when the cattle market was infiltrated by murderous bandits and killer herdsmen, they informed the new governor, “our communities have come under siege, suffering regular and, sometimes, scheduled raids by armed Fulani bandits who are powerfully laying claim to territories in Abia North for permanent settlement.”

It would be restated that innumerable victims and ransom negotiators including the erstwhile Prelate of the Methodist Church, His Eminence, Dr SKC Uche, positively identified the bandits to be self confessed Fulani jihadists offered entry into the country by the past administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

According to spokesmen of the youths, the armed attacks on Isuochi, Nneato, Leru, Nenwe and Lokpa communities have left over 1000 people dead, innumerable number women raped and billions of Naira lost in ransom payments.

“Our data collated from victims across our communities show that about N2.52 billion have been paid to the assailants as ransom, another N200 million has been spend on medical treatment for the wounded most of whom do not survive. Most of the young women and mothers who have been publicly raped still cope with depression and mental health issues associated with the trauma.

“Our case is made worse by the reluctance of the military forces at nearby checkpoints who witness these atrocities and refuse to stop it! Instead they quickly rise to suppress self help efforts by local youths in the area.

“At the moment, the two main roads connecting Isuochi to the rest of Abia State have been seized by the foreign bandits, forcing commercial transporters to avoid the routes and leaving indigenes doomed to fate. And as these villages get gradually isolated, the attacks become more brazen and daring.

“The scale of these atrocities is beyond comprehension, and it leaves no one in doubt that the state is under invasion. The urgency of the situation is very clear!” the youth organization declared.

In pointing to more disturbing threats, the youth groups stated that the overall plan of the terrorist groups in the state is to capture lands for cattle grazing and settlement.

“These bandits boast to our faces that they use ransom payments to recruit more militants until they are able to sack the villages,” the petition reads in part.

In appealing to the governor to take urgent and decisive action to bring an end to this reign of terror and restore law and order in Isuochi, Nneato, Umuchieze and other communities in the area, the youths lamented that the lives and livelihood of the people are under serious threat.

“People are afraid to leave their homes, the economy is suffering immensely, businesses are closing, jobs are being lost, our people can no longer come back home safely, and the future of our youths is at risk,” they stated.

The pattern of the sustained and increasing attacks suggests that the rising lucre of banditry incentivizes influx of bandits to the area.

“Your Excellency, we are literally funding our killers in order to buy little more time to live. Most of the people have indeed fallen multiple victims of the same or various groups of attackers. This is exactly how it started in Plateau and Benue states where Fulani’s now solidly claim land ownership,” they stated in the petition.

The youth groups appealed to the governor to immediately deploy the Police Mobile Force at various points in the area to tackle the bandits; adding that “permanent solution is to situate a military or policy formation in the area as deterrent to all forms of banditry.”

“We also call on the government to strengthen the police formations across Umunneochi with adequate and additional resources. It would be recalled that a DPO in one of the communities was also kidnapped and killed by the bandits after collecting ransom. This daring and brazen effrontery on the law cannot be allowed to continue.

“Again, we demand that the cattle market at Lokpanta be immediately relocated from the local government area. The market, it has been determined, has provided reception point for continued inflow of jihadists from Plateau and Benue States into Abia State. The market which is run by Fulani cattle dealers also provide operational base for the bandits,” they stated..

“Umunneochi youths are willing to cooperate with the authorities in any lawful measure restoring security of lives and property in the state,” they pledged.