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Alhaji Aliyu Yakubu Lame, District Head of Lame, Sarkin Yakin Bauchi
By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
Worried by the daily influx of strange people into the abandoned but expansive Lame/Burra Games Reserve located between Toro and Ningi local government areas of Bauchi State, communities residing in the area which is under the administration of Lame District in Toro local Government area have raised security alarm calling on the concerned authorities to act swiftly before they are consumed.
The traditional ruler of the area, Sarkin Yakin Bauchi and District Head of Lame, Alhaji Aliyu Yakubu Lame who raised the alarm while addressing his subjects in his Palace declared that there are actual presence of strangers inside the games reserve who must be checked and possibly flushed out by the government,
He further said that the development is worrisome and a security threat to the people because according to him, “the presence of these young men who either came to the forest from Zamfara axis while others came from the Southern part of the country is a security threat to us and the state in general” .
The traditional ruler further said that, “we have already profiled many of the youths in the area , and we are monitoring their activities to ensure that they did not cause any security breach in the area, and we have reported the matter to the security agencies in the area, Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu and the Emirate Council as well as the Bauchi State Government and both of them are working hard to ensure that there is no break of law and order”.
He further said that, “as Districts heads in the area, we meet regularly on the security issues and brief our subjects, we have engaged the services of local hunters, local vigilantes that are working with security agencies to monitor all the nooks and crannies of the area”
Aliyu Yakubu Lame lamented on the attitudes of some of the traditional rulers and forestry officers who accommodate people in the bush without the knowledge of the District Heads and some times even give them land to build houses inside the game reserves.
He said that the major problem is where a stranger being accommodated also received and accommodate other unknown visitors warning the concern leaders in the area to desist from accepting or giving lands to strangers, without following extinct laws and due process.
The Sarkin Yakin Bauchi urged relevant security agencies and the Bauchi State government to, as a matter of urgency, take steps to see that the fear of the people about the influx of these characters was not only allayed but also that it does not become the ugly reality if proactive measures are not taken.
Some of the residence of the area who spoke to journalists who visited the area said that “This development is more worrisome for the fact that it looks like a very well-co-ordinated deployment of idle young men from among a people who in recent time have come to be notorious for their intolerance, hostility, violence and a propensity to dominate their hosts and grab their lands and other assets”.
The Communities expressed the fear of these suspicious persons lurking around in the bush, saying that it has become necessary for them to express great concern in order to avoid doing anything that will disturb the peace enjoyed In the state.
One of the community leaders, said that, “as we speak, there are presence of many people that are occupying a vast expanse of the forest as their habitation and their fortress and we have fear that many of these newcomers have drifted into the forest”.
“I am appealing to the authorities of the state to investigate the strangers and if found wanting, should be apprehended and evacuated to where they may have come from”, he added.
Executive Chairman of Toro LGC could not be reached for his reaction as his phone was switched off as of the time of filing this report on Saturday.
When contacted on the issue, Bauchi State Police Command declared that it is aware of the development and is doing everything humanly and security possible to secure the area and Bauchi State as a whole.
The Commissioner of Police, Bauchi State Police Command, Sylvester Abiodun Alabi told our correspondent that, “We have done a joint operation with 33 Brigade of the Nigerian Army personnel in that axis, even with 3 Brigade from Kano axis. There is no cause for alarm”.
The Commissioner of Police while assuring residents of the area of their safety and adequate security advised the people to be vigilant and security considerations stressing that security is the business of everybody.
