Journalists Are Not Criminals nationalnetworkonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalnetworkonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
March 1, 2021 Share
In Nigeria, Friday’s predawn abduction of 317 female students from a government school in Zamfara state was the latest in a surge of kidnappings in the country’s north.
It’s not yet clear who was responsible for the girls’ abduction. But members of an armed gang who met with a VOA Hausa reporter and another journalist at their Sububu Forest hideout in Zamfara earlier this week contend they – and others like them – have turned to hostage-taking and other crimes because they have little choice to survive.
They said these “bandits” are mostly ethnic Fulanis like they are, traditionally nomadic herders who have seen public grazing lands shrink and their cattle and sheep stolen by soldiers and rustlers. They said various governments have neglected and even harassed them – and failed to protect their way of life.
Column No.6: Who’s ‘on top’ of the Zamfara situation?
Bandit Rampage
Sat Feb 27 2021
Yesterday, I woke up to more heartbreaking news, that ‘bandits’ have struck a school yet again. This time, the Government Girls Secondary School, Jangebe, in Talata Mafara Local Government Area of Zamfara State, where hundreds of students were whisked away. This is less than 24 hours after the state government said some ‘repentant bandits’ had surrendered their arms. In the news that followed, Alhaji Sulaiman Tunau Anka, Commissioner for Information, was quoted as having said: “We are on top of the situation.” With all due respect, we’re not. If we were, the heinous act wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
In rare access to enclave: Bandits speak on ravaging insecurity dailytrust.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailytrust.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.