Mararaba Gurku is a settlement along Abuja Keffi highway in Nasarawa State mostly occupied by low income earners. It is an example of a slum with all the social problems in society. Ruth Choji writes 

Residents of Mararaba Gurku in Nassarawa State are complaining of increase in armed robbery cases and other social vices. The area is an example of urban slum located along Abuja-Keffi express way in Karu local government area. It is estimated that this settlement has a rough population estimate of over three million people who are mostly low income earners and civil servants working of the lower cadre working in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Others include trader, prostitutes and of course criminals. Mararaba Gurku is best known for its local setting depicted in bad roads, violence and other criminal activities like prostitutions, illicit drugs users, alcoholic joints, robbery and other societal ills.

A resident, Chinedu Okegbuike, who spoke with LEADERSHIP Sunday said, “Right now, we sleep with one eye open. Thieves strike at any time of the day by knocking on gates the way visitors would and when you open, they will point their guns and collect any money they can lay their hands on. They have visited me thrice and on each occasion, I gave them 10,000, 8,000 and 5,000 naira respectively. The last one they came was in the morning when my wife was getting the children ready for school and I was still in bed; my brother opened the gate for them and when they came in, they gently told them to call me or collect the money for them as if they gave me some money to keep for them. We have reported it to the police several times, but no one has been arrested. Other residents close to us have also experienced similar attacks. We used to contribute money monthly for vigilantes, yet thieves still come to attack us”, he lamented.

Another resident, who has been robbed a couple of times, is Mrs Dorcas Tumkat, an indigene of Plateau State. She had lived there for nine years. According to her, “Armed robbery started a few years back because when I moved here to be with my husband, things were better; the place was not as choked up as it is now. Our house has been attacked three times with one of our neighbors wounded in the process because he wanted to fight them. One of them stabbed him with a big cutlass. The thieves are young boys who come in groups so that residents cannot even defend themselves. Sometimes, they carry food they see in the kitchen. At one time, they visited my neighbour and ate the food they had just prepared for dinner as well as the bread the husband bought. Our fear is that the day they will come and not get anything, they are likely to rape our daughters or kill somebody. The police won’t do anything even if you report to them. We even suspect the police of connivance with them sometimes, because how can a thief come to your house in broad daylight and ask for money and walk out with impunity? They always warn us that if we shout, they will go and come back and kill us and nothing will happen. When they come in the night, it is the worst because of lack of electricity, so, everybody’s generator will be on and because of the noise, they take their time and do anything they want and go unchallenged”, she narrated.

Although the chief of Mararaba Gurku, HRH Gambo Allayayi said he is not liable to talk on the issue, a member of the palace stated that there is no town or society without thieves, but stated that in their own case, the state government is doing everything in its power to stop the crime.

A police officer who doesn’t want his name in print told LEADERSHIP Sunday saying, “We are aware of the increase in crime, but the truth is that, most of it is committed by young boys living in the area who are mostly drug addicts. They do it just   to get a little amount of money for their addiction. Even when we arrest them, we end up releasing them because how many will you send to prison? Most times, their parents come to bail them out and then they will continue again. We encourage this neighborhood vigilante. Besides, the police don’t have enough men to police the whole of mararaba; the place is big and houses are built without proper planning. There are some places that you can’t assess with a car because of the way the houses are and then most of the people living here are poor. The thieves know that and that is why they steal anything they can lay their hands on"

A security expert, Mike Bamgboye, who also lives in mararaba said, “I have been living in mararaba for five years and I can attest to the fact that crime has really increased here. Women handbags are snatched in the night, motorists, who keep their phones carelessly in the traffic lose them to petty thieves while driving. Robbers enter through windows in the night and point their guns and tell you to give them anything you have and sometimes, it could be as low as one thousand naira (#1000). I believe that the major reason for the increase is Over population. Since El- Rufai, the former FCT minister demolished small settlements in the city centre, most people came to places like mararaba to live and because they lost their petty businesses, houses and life, they resort to a life of criminality. Most of the boys that do these things are into it for money, anger, envy or vengeance, the decay of family values, and the desire for control. In some cases, poverty contributes to robbery because people find it easier or quicker to steal than to go through the process of getting a job. Because of the type of people that live there, children are exposed to violence and this makes them to grow up anger. Possible starvation would force many people to steal in order to survive. Some person steal so that they can be cool in front of their friends while for many others, it is because of deprivation. Some others do it because they believe they can take someone else’s money than have to earn their own. But the truth is that people often steal because they feel insecure”, he explained.

An islamic cleric, Mallam Yahaya Sani, who had lived in Mararaba before moving to Lugbe because of the incessant hold up, stated that, “We do not deny the fact that poverty causes many crimes to be committed but Almighty Allah (S.w.T.) says in Surah al-Mā’ida 5:38-39 “And (as for) the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut off their hands as a punishment for what they have earned, an exemplary punishment from Allah, and Allah is mighty wise. But whoever repents after his iniquity and reforms (himself), then surely Allah will turn to him (mercifully), surely Allah is forgiving, merciful”. “When a minor child steals for the first and the second time he is forgiven. If he does it for the third time, he is issued a strict warning and beating. If he persists in his crime, the tips of his fingers are slightly cut and if he repeats the act, some more of his fingers are cut away”. The thief must be sane. So, if an insane person robs, his hand is not amputated. He may be suitably warned. It is important that the government provide the youth with suitable employment. Most of them resort to crime because of joblessness and hunger”.

Pastor Dan Abunkwu of Bible Faith Alive Synagogue of Christ stated that firstly, we have to accept that God specifically forbids stealing in (Exodus 20:15). Even though Proverbs 6:30 says, “Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving. Yet, it immediately adds that if he is caught he will have to pay it back sevenfold (6:31). So the only time stealing can be tolerated is when you are desperately in need. But we must understand it is it is still not right, and God does not condones it”.

Hungry individuals......how i wish they could understand that beheading themselves is not the right way to cure headache!