House of Representatives member representing Birnin Gwari and Giwa Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Bashir Zubairu Birnin Gwari (Chiroma), says farmers lost over a N100 million, following the attack on maize farms by bandits in the local government area.
The lawmaker disclosed this while speaking to BBC Hausa Radio on Wednesday about the Sunday bandit attack on maize farms located at Kwaga and Unguwar Zoko in Birnin Gwari LGA.
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He stated that if the government failed to address such atrocities, the people would have no choice but to defend themselves.
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“It was a huge loss of over N100 million, and they (the bandits) have not stopped, because it’s something they’ve been doing for the past two to three months. They claim that their people were attacked, their properties destroyed, and that their seized weapons must be returned to them,” he said.
Daily Trust further gathered that the Sunday maize farm attack occurred less than 48 hours after religious and community leaders had met with bandit leaders in the area to discuss a peace deal.
Regarding the ongoing peace deal, the lawmaker said that the affected villagers who lost their properties and family members as a result of the attacks should be compensated for their losses.
“It’s not possible to sit with people (the bandits) in a peace deal and later give them a huge amount of money, apart from the wealth they seized from innocent villagers, the people they killed, and the properties they destroyed. Just imagine the worse losses inflicted on innocent people, and yet you still want a peace deal.
“On this peace deal, I want to call on the leaders from the federal government to know that part of the peace deal should include compensating the innocent people whose farm products were destroyed,” he added.
The Chiroma further lamented that previously, during another peace deal, some bandit leaders were invited to the Emir of Birnin Gwari’s palace, and a large sum of money was given to them as part of the peace agreement.
“Meanwhile, the poor people whose families were abducted and whose livelihoods were destroyed received nothing,” he said.
He stated that while arming civilians was not the best option, if the situation worsened, residents would arm themselves.
He also lamented that his people were being arrested for buying arms to defend themselves, citing some residents of Kutemeshi who were arrested and detained at the police station last month.
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