₦airaland Forum

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.

It’s nationwide now

The military should take over
Right now Abacha looks better

Medicine after death
Some banks may already be in trouble
They did deal under buhari at 400, now the have to look for 1400 to settle same deals

Can the person serving you afford one dollar per plate of food?


He’s acting as if he’s not part of the problem

You and your brother stole Ekiti blind

Just sack him already
Tinubu started it though probably with wale edun’s advice
Tinubu was an error

Don’t allow your child to act or do fashion shows without 24hrs presence of one of the parents around them

The entertainment industry is a playground for wanton abuse

If you want to hire a ‘banker’ to take care of fiscal and monetary policies please don’t hire a marketer like Cardoso or Shettima

Hire an operations staff that knows banking not a marketer that chases deposits only and doesn’t know banking operations


That’s why we’re in this mess. At least Sanusi had operations experience, even the woeful Emefiele handled the exchange rates better cos he knew operations

Under Tinubu black market became cheaper than official rate

To think that buhari was called the worst president but he is fr better than Tinubu and his Lagos boys that are so called educated is scary

I hope salaries will be increased by 100%
Tinubu has failed on arrival
They steal unfollowed and you salaries are still in naira with no increase, fight for your rights

Hope she’s not eyeing someone’s husband

You’re looking for trouble not solutions

It’s a shame
Tinubu and his team failed out the gate
The UK prime minister Liz Truss resigned not long after swearing in for enacting terrible policies


These ones are entrenching themselves and doing more harm like using 12bn$ oil to pay for 3bn$ loan

EFCC is awaiting you

We need our money back

They’re playing politics with people’s future
You didn’t set up a committee to allocate budgets to yourselves and private jets
It’s an insult and a delay tactics

abba190:
men report what? nobody dey harass men sexually

Who said so?

Lock him away
More women and men should report sexual harassment

It grew under you as governor in Borno
That’s a self indictment

Very easy to get dna and finger print
Use the bvn/NIN or voters’ database to fish out ther person
We need to develop forensics in Nigeria, most of these crimes can be solved

Countries with more money pay rent per month, nigeria the poor country is taking rent per year
It’s an anomaly

@EFCC food is ready

Awesome

Peter Obi should forget the presidency

Obi should forget the presidency if this is true
Igbo people should forward someone else like Okonjo

The decision has nothing to do with rivers state or rivers country

Even in Dubai, how do you want to repay 5m with 190k salary?

The rule of a loan is you can’t collect everything for repayment, usually a maximum of 33%

If you deduct 63k plus interest it will take him over 6 years to repay the loan. Consumer loans, which he is taking is usually 2 to 3 years. If you were buying a house they can give him a long term loan of 15 to 30 years. It’s a financial banking decision not a rivers country or state decision

Arobaga:
Make them deny you



And they’ll keep denying every rivers man any opportunity at federal level



Since we all can’t come together and agitate for our own country as rivers men



Jamaica is just 4million people



But rivers alone is over 10million



Let’s get our own country with our sister state Bayesla and see how we would live large like Dubai

They steal in dollars now

1500 loading
It’s unfortunate

The stealing is now in dollars
That’s why it will be difficult for naira to recover

This one is inviting another coup on himself by those moves to Lagos

You’ll go to prison and lose all your stolen money

Be playing