The detailed account, detailing the ordeal of a married father of five who escaped from an unnamed village in Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA) after a week-long journey, depicts a complete collapse of state authority and the institutionalization of extortion, sexual violence, and forced servitude.
Key Revelations from the Escaped Resident’s Account
- Systematic Sexual Exploitation: The report details how male residents are forced to surrender their wives and daughters to bandits upon demand. Attackers leave markers—such as a blanket or stick in front of a house—to signal that they intend to occupy the home and assault the women, while husbands are forced to sleep outside under threat of immediate execution.
- Severe Freedom and Movement Restrictions: Residents are prohibited from owning phones, flashlights, new clothes, or machetes (only hoes and diggers are permitted). Any new clothing or motorcycles are seized outright by the bandits, who maintain a total monopoly on petrol sales, communication, and local commerce.
- Economic Extortion & Forced Conscription: Farmers are forced to pay a quarter of their crop harvests to the armed gangs. Furthermore, local youths are forcibly conscripted to ride motorcycles for bandits during raiding and kidnapping operations. Refusal or attempt to escape results in immediate summary execution.
- Total Breakdown of Social Services: Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and basic schools across these communities have ceased operations entirely as teachers and medical workers fled. Religious gatherings, including Sunday church services, are strictly prohibited whenever bandits are present.
- Widespread Reach: According to Buhari, over 20 communities in Kajuru LGA, 30 in Kachia LGA, and dozens in Chikun LGA have been forced into similar brutal submission agreements following years of unmitigated attacks.
Core Highlights of the Parallel Administration
LOCATION: Kajuru, Kachia, and Chikun LGAs, Kaduna State
CONDITION: Surrender agreements under enforced bandit reign
CONTROL MECHANISMS: Taxes (25% crop yield), enforced curfews, sexual violence, execution threats
STATE INFRASTRUCTURE: Total absence; schools, health centres, and security forces abandoned
Mounting Calls for Decisive Military Intervention
The harrowing testimony reinforces warnings from civil society organizations and community leaders in Southern Kaduna regarding the emergence of uncontrolled, “ungoverned spaces” across the North-West and Middle Belt regions.
Rights activists and regional bodies are calling on the Federal Government and military high command to deploy specialized tactical squads to liberate these occupied rural communities, dismantle the armed fiefdoms, and restore law, safety, and human rights to affected citizens.
