muyico:
but they do kidnap for ransoms?

foreign expatriates working in oil rigs and illegal bunkering not killing of villagers or causing mayhem. There is no argument between Niger delta millitant and Fulani herdsmen none.

Your write-up is an awesome one.

I'm a transporter and when my trailer drivers are on the road, all I do is pray . Even when I'm asleep. The situation on Nigerian roads is a scary one being taken likely by our leaders..

clockwisereport:
Reminds me of the road I plied last week Friday. I attended the burial ceremony of the mother of Hon Chukwuma Ekwueme in Adaba, Uzo Uwani LGA. This is the scariest road I have ever plied in my life. Imagine travelling through a thick Bush for about 30km without meeting anybody on the road, nobody overtakes you while travelling through this road. So many things crossed my mind. What if my car spoil along this bush? Wetin I go do if I meet "these people"? Wetin I go do if my tyre gets ruptured?

Immediately I came back from the burial, I checked nairaland. The first news I saw saw that bandits killed 4 people in Ogurugu, another town in Uzo Uwani.

Thank God for your life

EmeeNaka:
@OP, the greatest threat to peace in Africa and indeed the world is Islam. It breeds illiteracy, violence and disease. There should be a partition of Nigeria between Islamic region and Secular region. I am tired of this current nonsense. And I want warn that this problem may never end.

Although north needs serious enlightenment on religion, secularism and diplomatic relationship with those that doesn't share someone's opinion. But Islam is still not the problem(although many dodge under it to instigate violence. Extremist)
But some Arab countries in Asia have become the destination for Europeans vacation during winter. They are developed and liberal. Countries like UAE and Qatar, even Saudi Arabia is on the track to compete with UAE. Their inhumane punishment is evolving. What people generally need is enlightenment on rational thinking. I think it will help us if philosophy as a subject is introduced to secondary school curriculum. There is need for us to know how to attend to problem with logic not with religion.

davidluv:
Your write-up is an awesome one.

I'm a transporter and when my trailer drivers are on the road, all I do is pray . Even when I'm asleep. The situation on Nigerian roads is a scary one being taken likely by our leaders..

You are right about our leaders sir. May God increase your fleet.

Fulanis......

AncientAlien:



4) this is the most important move we need to take now. We have to called out every agency in the affair of National Identification Number(NIN) and those of BVN to come and explain to chosen I. T professionals, how the kidnappers have been evading arrest while still using registered Sim cards in our sovereignty.


If we can start with that. We will definitely hit the ground running.

I believe this will do a lot of good. I propose every phone number must be accurately registered to a verified entity. Any number not registered should be blocked

This is exactly what Birnin-gwari and Southern Kaduna has endured aaaaaaaall these years.
I was at WAEC office a few years ago when one of their officers narrated to us how the Exam body had a legal tussle with parents of a school In that Birnin-gwari axis whose exams question papers could not be taken to them when attacks escalated, No supervisor will take the risk even if he's paid in millions.
Insecurity has KILLED a lot of things in this Country. It will take a miracle for Nigeria to return to it once peaceful self.
Sad!

Op, reading you sent shivers down my spine.
I was apprehensive you would conclude your story with a narration of how you witnessed humans been butchered or how you were nearly killed. Thank God none of this happened!

There are large swathes of ungoverned areas up north, this has a capacity to breed hardened criminals who may never be caught.

Someone mentioned Islam as the number one cause of this ugly trend because it has increased the myopism of its illiterate adherents. I agree with him.

Take militancy in the SS for instance, once these boys started making huge money from militancy, they needed to come to town to wield and enjoy their money. From their most became exposed and were apprehended.

When they were offered amnesty, most embraced it because they needed to come out of the trenches to enjoy their money.

Then their son was made president and that was like the end of militancy. This is the enlightenment we are talking about. And then some of their demands at improving their environment were also looked into by the powers that be. They embraced peace.
Is the SS of today what they wished it to be, NO! But they embraced peace.

But you see these northerners, they are a stiff necked people set in their ways. The extremist have infiltrated the security agencies. The security agencies themselves lack the knowledge or political will to fish out these bad eggs. They cover up so much for themselves no matter what. How do you deal with this kind of frustrating situation? You have heard complaints about soldiers and police siding with terrorists, that's what I'm talking about!

Abeg Abeg Abeg Op, all man to himself. My SE has its fair share of insecurity too, so I'll just work on that.


We need to go our separate ways! That's the beginning of the solution.

rabiudon:
I believe this will do a lot of good. I propose every phone number must be accurately registered to a verified entity. Any number not registered should be blocked

When UAE told the whole world they have given some names of those financing Boko Haram to buhari, what did buhari do with the names?

SeeWahala:



When last I checked, zamfara state goverment controlled its gold resources

So your point again was . . . ?

Zamfara does not control its gold.
If it does, it would reflect in its budget.
What we currently have across the country is private companies given mining license by the Federal government.
No state is treated differently.

The solution to this menace is devision, Nigeria is too big for one man to control.

@OP Thank your stars o.. I can relate well.
Going far into the North will leave bitter taste in anyone's mouth. You'll start wondering where all the allocations, security votes etc. are entering. Some parts have good tarred roads o but the insecurity is sickening.

I can't forget the statement a mentally challenged man made while I was in traffic years back at Jibowu under bridge.. he said the insecurity problem in Nigeria is like cancer that gradually starts from one part, then spread to other parts of a person's body till it eventually kills the person. He was so worried and bothered (a mad man o), insisting that if Nigeria doesn't curtail insecurity now, insecurity will eventually kill Nigeria.. It's been many years now and I can't forget that statement, it's starting to seem like prophecy to me.

If a mentally challenged person that had nothing, no good clothes, no cars could be so worried, how much more "sane" citizens going about life as if all is well.. We need to wake up and do more collectively on security. E go touch everybody las las if we don't find lasting solution and help the security agencies.

AncientAlien:


The very first question we should be asking our government is what is the reason why NIN have refused to yield to its goal. Let them explain to our professional I. T gurus what they are doing with it. Maybe they need to learn more on digitalization or fire those handling the system.

I feel there are lapses in that structure especially when people can get pre-registered sims linked with NIN.

I don't really know how our security databases work but I think there should be a constantly upgraded list for persons of interest and facial recognition cameras to notify of their locations.

flokii:
@OP Thank your stars o.. I can relate well.
Going far into the North will leave bitter taste in anyone's mouth. You'll start wondering where all the allocations, security votes etc. are entering. Some parts have good tarred roads o but the insecurity is sickening.

I can't forget the statement a mentally challenged man made while I was in traffic years back at Jibowu under bridge.. he said the insecurity problem in Nigeria is like cancer that gradually starts from one part, then spread to other parts of a person's body till it eventually kills the person. He was so worried and bothered (a mad man o), insisting that if Nigeria doesn't curtail insecurity now, insecurity will eventually kill Nigeria.. It's been many years now and I can't forget that statement, it's starting to seem like prophecy to me.

If a mentally challenged person that had nothing, no good clothes, no cars could be so worried, how much more "sane" citizens going about life as if all is well.. We need to wake up and do more collectively on security. E go touch everybody las las if we don't find lasting solution and help the security agencies.

Just relax, it will only take a matter of rime before this insecurity causes the division of Nigeria. Everywhere you go, Fulani are causing havoc. One day, the south will have sense and they will collectively go after the Fulani people, soldiers will try to side them and that's what will bring about the division of this country.

Yes, it's happening to me currently and I don't mind. Let's it burn, let us burn.No be wetin we want?Yes, it's happening to me currently and I don't mind. Let's it burn, let us burn.No be wetin we want?...

A very frightening experience indeed!! My heart was in my mouth all through the read!
Truck driving is supposed to be enjoyable and filled with adventure but in Nigeria it's filled with trauma! Keep safe and godspeed...

I search Birnin Gwari on Google now and all I could see were nothing but negative updates from years back to the present. Even with inclusion of nairaland in the search bar, their negativity news full nairaland too. If only I have heard about it before our adventure. I would have never allowed us to pass there. At the end, we still thank God for life.

Thank you for documenting this here
That area was one of the beginnings of banditary in the north, they played with it and it turned into fire

AncientAlien:
Good moment to all fellow nairalanders and faithful Nigerian guests. I have an horrible adventure that worth sharing to you people, especially people from southern Nigeria, who had previously seen the perennial attacks in the north as business that remain there. Unfortunately, we have been kissing the reality now in almost all southern states of this beautiful country. If something is needed to be done at its threshold; it can never be better than now. Now here is the story.



After I was out of work and jobless at the end of year 2022, I summoned the courage to learn how to drive heavy duty vehicle (trailer driving). The courage and tenacity manifested through a thread I read here on nairaland written by antimason ( https://www.nairaland.com/6523549/ever-considered-learning-truck-driving ). I started work and touring every nook and cranny of the country. The part that attracted this write up is what I will strictly attend to.


On this same month in the beginning of year 2023.as usual and as the duty demand of us, we are expected to lift premium motor gasoline(petrol) from Lagos to Kano. Our logistic company gave us the amount of diesel( automotive gas oil) that can take us from Ibadan to Abuja taking the jebba to Abuja road. That road is a worse motorable road(at that time) that logistic trailers do take from Lagos to Abuja instead of Abuja kogi express way that consume more fuel. Cutting cost by the logistic firms you imagined. Now our own destination wasn't even Abuja, It's kano. It is when we reach Abuja that the new journey to kano began. The company is cutting cost, so we decided to cut cost too. How do we do that? We are going to deviate away from the jebba to Abuja road at the middle of the road. So, at mokwa, we checked into the adjoining road that leads to Birni Gwari. Trailers don't pass this road as it's the shortest route to north west states and kaduna and kano in particular. It doesn't require you to waste your fuel and time to Abuja anymore. But the road had many odds against it. May be that was the reason why it recorded low trailer usage compared to the long distance road of jebba straight to Abuja.


The odds. The road is the worst of all road for trailers to take as inter state route during raining season because of how degraded it was. I cant even explain what the experience will be during raining season because we that pass there during the harmattan of January didn't find the experience normal. It was a tug of war to drive pass that forbidden road. The passing trailers were scanty. It was at that moment in time we knew we were in for a big deal. Like 60 to 80 kilometers away from our deviation point(mokwa) and can't turn back. We keep our faith and kept moving. We reach a point that we drove an hour long without coming across a vehicle or one overtaking us.


Our journey later reach a point where we started meeting returning trailers once in a while. They were empty. They admonished us for taking load to pass the route. They said it could have been better if we are returning empty. Let me hint you! Each one of them didn't go without warning us about the insurgency going on from Birni Gwari to kaduna. Oh my God! What have I done to warrant this. We sweat inside. When we were coming closer to the infamous town, the retuning trailers(most of single container truck who were yoruba drivers as us) advice us of the best way to ply Birni Gwari to kaduna if we don't want to lose our lives(we where three.driver, me and another fellow motor boy) they instructed that when we reach towards the outpost of the town. We would find other trailers who had already parked and we should join them. Other coming trailers coming after us would join us there too, as it is not advisable to pass the road alone in the day time till down. Oh! How would I forget this experience



This is how it work for the Travellers and traders in Birni Gwari. Insurgency in southern kaduna had left almost all villages and little communities between infamous Birni Gwari and kaduna to go into extinction. The traders and travelers would have to wait at the outpost of Birni Gwari where a military base is miles away. Travellers parked at the side of the road. They will all wait til around 8:00 am in the morning of the next day. That time, military team are believed to be patrolling from another 'makeshift heavy military base' which is situated at a small town/big village in the sovereignty of kaduna state. They takes a routine patrol from that village to Birni Gwari, during that process, travellers who had slept over at that village too, will follow the military convoy of about 2 tanks and four military pick ups to Birni Gwari. The convoy of travellers following the convoy of the military can total up to 250 or 300(they are too many, I can't just arrive at a number) in this convoy are trailers( including dangote trailers) and commercial cars for traders and commuters, and also private car owners. They were always following the morning convoy of the soldiers. If you decided to pass the road Hours after their departure; On Your Own is your motto. There is always a team of soldiers with two tanks that firstly check on the road for safety purpose for the oncoming long motorcade of the military and travelers convoy. This is done to give signal to the military guarding the long convoy for any misadventure that might be on the way. It is the arrival of this convoy we are all expecting to follow back to that makeshift military base. The base in Birni Gwari is a standard brick barrack but its military presence and obligations have dwindled. You can count the total number of soldiers inside the barrack if you are allowed to get inside.
The heavy makeshift military base in the other village is haphazardly designed with tents with lot of military hardwares for combat. There is another one some meters after leaving Birni Gwari and its unutilized barack. It's a makeshift post also but light compared to the other side post.




Back to my adventure, when we entered Birni Gwari, the consigned inhabitants were communicating to us from under the roof covering their houses and shops. Even individuals on bike or the one walking on the road quietly passed us message. They were telling us to park when we reach front and sleep there till next day morning, when we will have to follow back military convoy to their heavy base. It was around 3 or 4:00pm. What was our idea was to cut cost and return home quickly. But here, we where, taking a compulsory recess, or else we would completely play with our own life if we refuse to park and rest.



We parked when we reached the infamous park. Vehicles there were not many at that time. The trailers we met were about 6 or seven. Truthfully; drivers had left that road for goodness sake. We look for a local canteen that sells our own yoruba indigenous foods. There we relate with the workers who are vast in both hausa and yoruba language. Although my boss understands hausa language a little bit. I and my colleague were the newbies. Our acquaintance told us more of what we needed to know about the environment and what we should be expecting on the road. They said many people had lost their lives on that same road. There were cases of the insurgents stopping vehicles and killing them all, or sometimes, abduct their victims. The road had become the shadow of itself that the villagers in the environment have refused to be taking goods to them in Birni Gwari market, which makes the available farm products in the town so cost. They said when we are following the military convoy tomorrow morning, we will see with our eyes, villages without number at the road side, which had been ransacked. Some are ruins from the result of villages set on fire. Our hearth breathed heavily and we felt sorry for the villagers.



The day we had been patiently expecting arrived. They told us that the convoy had arrived. We could see it with our own eyes too at around 9:00am when vehicles drove in with a little distance before one another. The army had stopped at the light post. The civil convoy following them had glide into the town. It remain us to go and meet them at the light post, so that we could follow them back to the heavy post.



The trailers that parked at where we slept were now more than ten. Cars of both private and commercial joined us with their goods and passengers. We all followed ourselves forming a convoy as well. We left the unutilized military base in our front. Droved few miles away from Birni Gwari before we reach the military light post. They had been waiting for us. Their motorcade started moving when they sighted us, and we follow them with prayer. As our acquaintance had said, so is everything. We saw deserted villages with no single inhabitant. Half fallen big huts here and there. Schools abandoned. Weed took over the fields. Bushes growing inside hurts that had lost roofs to fire. Everywhere were silent. What you can only see and hear are the birds flying in circles and chirping. Big mango trees lies useless beside the road. No one dare to come plucking.



I wasn't advantage to have a better camera phone with me then. I could have capture more than enough. On the journey, we reached some deserted villages that farmers came in groups to check dried trees for sale and cooking purposes. Some group of women went in groups to to pluck mangoes in abundance for sell. This place, your vehicle dare not have any fault. Because once the convoy left you. You are at your mercy. Don't even think of roadside mechanic or vulcanizer. They are nowhere to be found. Who dare open a barbing shop at the town of bald men when their lives is not even safe. Maybe a tow vehicle would have to help you tow it, following the convoy away from the zone into the city of kaduna. Despite these calamities. There are still few villages that had absorb the the runaway refugees to their own village. That makes such village big a little more. The last of all is when we reached the military heavy post. A very big village had been formed at a mile away from the military base. It's this village that absorbed almost all the refugees of the destroyed villages. It has become their asylum because of the presence of the heavy military base.



The total experience was an eyesore. People are living in this environment with the probability of insurgency striking them at any time. This is not the country we all wish to be proud of. If we are to have a better Nigeria. Then we should all come together to find the root of our problem and deal with it from that root. It's only then that we could rest and proud of our land. To the children abducted yesterday in ondo or ekiti state. May they all come back safely. It's not done through prayer alone. It requires action as the most important. Intellectual Evolution can start from anyone. You don't need to wait for no one.


Note: this write up is not edited.

AncientAlien:
I search Birnin Gwari on Google now and all I could see were nothing but negative updates from years back to the present. Even with inclusion of nairaland in the search bar, their negativity news full nairaland too. If only I have heard about it before our adventure. I would have never allowed us to pass there. At the end, we still thank God for life.

Now you know, it's well with you. Those bandits are actually runaway BOKO HARAM mixed with fulanis

AncientAlien:

Thank God for your life

Thank you