Bauchi Communities Protest Alleged Military Takeover Of Ancestral Land

BY ADEYEMI AKANJI, ABUJA – Free flow of traffic was disrupted for several hours on the ever busy Bauchi-Jos highway on Sunday as residents of Shadawanka village trooped out and blocked the road protesting against what they described as illegal and forceful ejection from their ancestral land.

The residents made up of men, women and children trooped to the road around Zaranda Hotel chanting songs of disagreement with the development as well as displaying placards with various inscriptions to drum home their displeasure over the development.

One of the protesters, Muhammad Tajudeen Ahmed said; “we are here on the road to show our displeasure over the move to eject us from our ancestral land. We have lived here several years ago, our forefathers were born here.

“We are accusing the Bauchi Emirate Council of being behind the move to eject us in collaboration with the military authorities. We just saw some soldiers on Saturday who came and asked us to vacate our homes. Where are they taking us to? This is our land and we are not ready to leave it for any reason,” he insisted.

Also speaking, Habibu Suleiman said; “We are here to let the world know that there is injustice going on here. We have been here for a very long time, those two rocks you are looking at were the abode of the first settlers of this area. No compensation has been paid to our forefathers over the acquisition of the land”.

Suleiman said that sometime in September last year (2020), the District Head of Miri sent a message to them to vacate the land but later rescinded the decision saying that they were surprised when on Saturday some military personnel came around and asked them to vacate the area immediately.

In the words of Suleiman; “we are not leaving this place until government comes to our aid, we are ready to remain here as long as help will come our way. We would rather die fighting for our rights”.

He also said that the affected communities have written protest letters to the government, human rights organizations, the military but nothing was done to help them and therefore called on Governor Bala Mohammed to as a matter of urgency intervene in the situation.

The head of the communities, Haliru Abubakar, ho is quite elderly, told journalists that the communities have existed in the area for over 200 years.

According to him; “We have been here even before the army barracks came. Why should someone just wake up one day and ask a whole community to vacate their ancestral land?”

Abubakar alleged that the Bauchi Emirate Council is on the forefront of the move to eject them from their ancestral land saying; “we have been summoned to the palace on the matter but, who are we to challenge the authority. All we are asking for is fairness and justice”.

In his reaction, the spokesperson of the military in Bauchi said; “The land was allocated to the Nigerian Army by e Bauchi State Government for the purpose of building a barrack for more than 48 years ago.

“The map and certificate was issued to the Army and the Army was not part of the compensation process. It was done by the Bauchi State Government and the Bauchi Emirate Council”.

The Bauchi State Police Command confirmed that there was a peaceful protest by the communities over alleged invasion of their land by military personnel who were erecting some fence around the land.

Spokesman of the police, SP Wakili Ahmed told our correspondent on phone that; “the Police Command received a distress call that there was a military invasion on a plot of land which led to protest around Guru community.

“Under the directive of the Police Commissioner, CP Sylvester Abiodun Alabi, officers and men of the Command were immediately drafted to the area and met the protesters on the road”.

Ahmed added that the Police with the Special Adviser on Security Matters to the Governor, Gen Yake tried to pacify the protesters by assuring them that the government will look into the issue surrounding the development.