Zubar Abdurra’uf, a community leader in Birnin Gwari LGA in the state of Kaduna, has disclosed that Ansaru terrorists have taken over some communities and are protecting the residents from armed bandit attacks.
He made the claims on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast show while discussing the security situation in North West state.
According to Abdurra’uf, a former Head of Kaduna State Media Corporation, terrorists ride motorcycles in military uniforms across the communities, and some locals feel safe having them around to help fight against those he refers to as bandits in the UAC forest.
Abdurra’uf said: “If you look at Giwa and Birnin Gwari, the Ansaru presence is still there; nobody knows their motive. In some areas, the Ansaru are patrolling the roads and you’ll see them with their arms and even the military fatigues”
“If you go from Maganda in Birni Gwari LGA to old Birnin Gwari up to Funtua, you would see these people(terrorists)…”
“The Ansaru is in charge on these roads and if they spot any armed bandit…any Fulani bandit they chase them away. That road is more secured than the Kaduna to Birnin Gwari Road because the Ansaru is in charge,” he said.
He listed the areas where they are prominent as the “eastern part of Birnin Gwari and some part of Giwa LGA notably in 6 wards Kidandan, Galadimawa, Katarge, Yaka Wada and to some extent Bangoya”.
When asked if the people are okay with the arrangement, he said the locals, who are being indoctrinated, are forced to choose between the two evils of the terrorists and bandits but they rather pick the terrorists who seem more friendly.
His comments are coming barely a week after Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State, during a security briefing, raised the alarm that Boko Haram and Ansaru terrorists are now in forests across the state.
Also speaking during the presentation of the first quarter security report for 2022 to the state’s security council, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan said no fewer than 360 people have been killed by suspected terrorists in different parts of Kaduna State from January to April.
Kaduna Central Senatorial zone recorded the highest casualties with 214 deaths, the Commissioner said.
Aruwan explained that 1,389 people were kidnapped by bandits in different attacks across Kaduna State during the period under review, including the 62 victims of the March 28 attack on an Abuja-Kaduna train.