We decided to kill 50 people for every slain herdsman–Head of Zamfara bandits who renounced violence
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/08/we-decided-to-kill-50-people-for-every.html
Hassan Dantawaye is the commander of
bandits who recently renounced violence following peace talks in Zamfara
State. The bandits, who are Fulani herdsmen, had been engaged in
killing, kidnapping and other crimes, which they blamed on cattle
rustling and harassment by security agencies and local vigilance group.
Dantawaye tells MAIHARAJI ALTINE about the peace initiative and some of
the atrocities they had committed
Q: You recently said your
people were forced into a life of kidnapping, killing and other crimes
because you were unjustly treated by the government and society, how
were you treated unjustly?
A: Thank you so much for this question.
We the Fulani have been facing serious challenges, both from the
government and cattle rustlers, some of whom are our own people. I mean
some bad eggs among us. Most of them are not even citizens of this
country.
We were living peacefully about 10 years
ago. There was nothing like cattle rustling or kidnapping let alone
killings or destruction of innocent people’s properties. The only issue
we had then was Fulani herders/farmers clashes and they were always
addressed by community leaders of both the farmers and the Fulani.
Let me tell you the truth of the matter,
cattle rustling was the genesis of armed banditry in this country. Many
Fulani like me have lost their cattle to the rustlers. You know that
the Fulani are neither farmers nor traders; they depend solely on the
rearing of animals. So when cattle rustling started in our state in
2013, we did all we could to draw the attention of the government to the
problem, to do something about it, but nothing was done to stop the
menace. The government ignored our numerous complaints. So as time went
on, most of us lost almost all of our animals, and as a result of that,
many decided to also engage in cattle rustling to regain their lost
animals and also sell some of the animals to buy food and other things.
As time went on, the government realised
that cattle rustling was on the increase. So, the former governor,
Alhaji Abdul’aziz Yari, quickly ordered that no cow should be sold or
taken out of the state until it was certified that the person selling it
or taking it outside was the genuine owner of the animal.
So that was when we started having
serious problems. We have stolen cows but we had no money to buy food
because we didn’t know how to sell the animals. One day, an idea came to
us that since the kidnapping of people for ransom was being done in
some parts of this country and people were making money from it, we
should adopt that to get money for our needs. So you see, if the
government had acted fast and arrested the issue of cattle rustling at
the time we complained about it, we wouldn’t have been involved in these
heinous activities.
Q: You said you also faced
serious harassment and intimidation from security personnel and Yan
Sakai (a local vigilance group), can you expatiate on your experience?
A: Of course, we faced serious
harassment and intimidation from the security personnel and the
vigilance group, a factor that further worsened the security situation
in the state. The security agents, particularly the police, have been
levying charges on our people. They had been collecting money from us
unnecessarily simply because both the government and society consider
every Fulani man as a criminal. When the ban on the sale of cattle was
imposed by the state government, the police took advantage of that to
extort money from even genuine Fulani people who own animals, whenever
they see them. This issue seriously aggravated the insecurity problems
in the state.
The vigilance group and Yan Sakai have
also contributed to the insecurity issue considering their negative
attitude towards the Fulani people. These two groups have turned
themselves into groups that are licensed to kill. They killed any Fulani
man they perceived as a bandit or cattle rustler and the government did
not take any serious action to stop the menace. Many of our people were
killed by these people. After realising that the government was not
ready to stop the killing of our people by these two groups, we decided
to pay back with reprisals. From that day, we decided to kill at least
50 people whenever one of us was killed.
Q: You mentioned cattle rustling, how many cows are you aware were rustled in the last one year, or example?
A: Nobody can answer this question but l
can tell you that more than half of our people have lost their animals.
Many of them have died of hypertension, while several others have
turned to beggars as they have nothing left with them.
Q: What was your personal cattle rustling experience?
A: Believe me, I lost 372 cows and a
large number of sheep. My family members have also lost many. In fact,
that was my reason for leaving my village and moving to the forest as an
alternative home and becoming a bandit, because I had nothing left to
depend on.
Q: In the course of all
that, did you share your concerns with the government before your people
resorted to kidnapping and killing?
A: How many times do you want me to
explain this? I told you that we did all we could to convince the
government to come to our aid, particularly with regards to cattle
rustling. The police had a bad attitude towards our people and there was
the persistent killing of our people by the villagers and volunteer
groups, but our appeals to the government fell on deaf ears.
Q: What specific response did you get?
A: Not much attention was given to our plight.
Q: How did you become the commander of the bandits?
A: I became the commander because of my
total commitment to the plight of my people. They have respect for me
because I am very sincere and committed to protecting their interest. I
am always contacted by the present administration of Governor Bello
Matawalle for any peace accord and whatever he says is accepted by the
group.
Q: What do you do normally?
A: As to how?
Q: How do you discharge your duty as the leader of the bandits?
A: The issue is now over. We have
embraced peace moves initiated by Governor Matawalle, as such; there is
no need for me to tell you the mode of operations since the chapter is
now closed.
Q: Are you all Fulani herdsmen?
A: Yes, the people under my command are
all Fulani herdsmen. But I cannot say that all bandits are Fulani
people because there are several instances where people from other
tribes were arrested for banditry. There are many people arrested for
banditry and when you look at their identities, you find out that some
of them are not Fulani.
Q: How was the group formed? Did you all come together after identifying one another as victims of cattle rustling and so on?
A: You are very correct. The majority of
those in our group are victims of armed banditry or other forms of
intimidation by either the security personnel or vigilance group. But
there are also others who only joined us to fight our enemies and also
get something for their families.
Q: Did they undergo any training before they started kidnapping and killing?
A: No, they didn’t need any special
training except only on how to operate AK 47 or other weapons. Once a
person knew how to use a gun and fight his enemy, he had met our
requirements. The kidnapping issue is not something one can be trained
on. We normally had our targets. So we only sent our boys to go and
kidnap this or that person. We also blocked some roads and kidnapped
motorists.
Q: Many of you have surrendered weapons, guns and so on after renouncing, how many have been submitted to the government so far?
A: We surrendered some guns, but you
know, the peace process is still ongoing. We are still studying the
situation in order to ascertain the level of commitment and seriousness
of the government before we finally surrender all of our weapons. Don’t
forget that we had a similar peace accord with the past administration
of former Governor Yari, when thousands of weapons were surrendered to
the government. But at the end of the day, the peace accord failed to
yield any positive result. But, I trust the current peace accord of the
new governor, Alhaji Bello Matawalle. The governor is really serious;
that is why we have released almost all those people we kidnapped in
various places. We will soon surrender all the weapons in our
possession.
Q: How do your people get the weapons?
A: This is top secret. I cannot disclose this for now but when the time comes, I will answer your question.
Q: Why did you see kidnapping and killing as the solution?
A: I told you earlier that we resorted
to kidnapping because we were left with no option as the government at
that time banned the sale of animals and we were almost out of cash to
purchase food. Similarly, we resorted to killing in order to avenge the
killing of our own people by the vigilance group and Yan Sakai.
Q: How many people were you involved in their kidnap?
A: They were many. I cannot precisely tell you their number.
Q: What about killing? Is that something you can talk about?
No.
Q: How were the peace talks with the vigilantes initiated?
A: The peace talks were initiated by the
state police commissioner, Alhaji Usman Nagogo, who invited all the
stakeholders, that is the Fulani people, vigilance group and Yan Sakai
to a meeting where every group was given a chance to voice their
grievances. After a series of meetings, we all agreed that there was a
need for all of us to forgive one another and embrace peace. We agreed
to release the people we had abducted if the government could also
release our people that had been imprisoned.
Governor Matawalle has not only accepted
our request but has also promised to provide us with government
assistance for us to live happily like our counterparts, the farmers. He
has also proscribed the activities of the vigilance group and Yan
Sakai.
Q: The public has also had
problems with the way your herders also roam from place to place with
their cattle, destroying farm crops and so on? Will you say that is
fair?
A: I will not say that it is fair. You
see, farmers depend on their farms to survive and the Fulani depend on
their animals. So it is very unfair for the Fulani to destroy food
crops. But sometimes we have no alternative because more than 80 per
cent of grazing areas have now been encroached into by farmers. There
used to be enough grazing lands demarcated by the government in those
days mainly for cattle. They are called cattle routes. These lands have
been taken over by farmers and the government did not bother much about
it. So that is why we are having problems with those who have encroached
into the cattle routes and grazing lands. If this issue is addressed by
the government, I am telling you, the issue of destruction of crops
will be over.
Q: Many of your kidnap
victims are still in captivity; will you ensure the release of all these
people following the peace initiative?
A: As far as I am concerned, nobody is
currently being held captive in Zamfara State. We have released our
captives and the government has also released our people arrested by
security agents.
Q: But people are still
being kidnapped, though the situation has gone down, what are you doing
to ensure that killing and kidnapping stop totally?
A: We have not kidnapped anybody in one
week as the government is doing its best to fulfil its promise. Nobody
was kidnapped or killed during the Eid el Kabir festival. So there is
relative peace in the state now.
Q: How do you pass the message of peace across to the various cells of bandits?
A: It is easy to communicate nowadays with mobile phones. So we communicate with our people through phone calls.
Q: What do you think is the solution to all the problems of insecurity in the country?
This is very simple. Justice is the solution to the problem of insecurity in Nigeria.
Q: What do you mean?
A: I mean everybody should be treated
justly and with fairness. All Nigerians must be treated equally. The
government should try as much as possible to make sure that the right of
every Nigerian is adequately protected. If this is done, I assure you,
the problem of insecurity would be adequately addressed.
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