Weekly Trust (Kaduna)
Abdullahi Doki &Crispin Oduobuk
18 September 2000
Bambam &Gombe Town — Sharia-related violence may have claimed well over 15 lives and destroyed houses and properties worth millions of naira in Bambam, a community of over 7,000 people in Kaltungo Local Government Area of Gombe State. Weekly Trust investigations in the village revealed that the event occurred during the afternoon of Thursday, September 7, 2000 after a visitation by a committee charged with sampling public opinion on Sharia implementation in the state.
The visit of the committee is said to have spurred the Muslims and Christians in the community to hold separate marches for and against Sharia implementation respectively. The parades which held simultaneously were peaceful and broke up without incident about noon. However, not long after the protests had ended mayhem broke out in the village with some attacking marauders wielding dangerous weapons like machetes and dane-guns.
Though it could not be independently confirmed, some natives of Bambam community who survived the attack laid the blame for the vicious attack on two nearby communities, namely Dadiya and Tula, who reportedly descended on both Christians and Muslims in Bambam, killing, maiming and burning indiscriminately. Also, though there were speculations that the attacking communities descended on Bambam for being reluctant to tow the Sharia line, the grievances of the Dadiya and Tula communities which may have led to the unprovoked attack could not be ascertained.
Several of the eyewitnesses who spoke to Weekly Trust said they were taken unawares by the attackers who seemed to be acting out a well co- ordinated plan. On entering the village the attackers were said to have proceeded on a vicious house-to-house attack. They screamed wildly, pouncing on anyone they came across while the efforts of the Bambam villagers to repulse the surprise attack met with no success. This led some people to conclude that the attackers were operating under the influence of charms and thereafter everyone simply concentrated on saving himself rather than fighting back.
A young man who gave his name simply as Musa said the attackers screamed "Allahu Akbar!" (God is great!) while setting fire to homes, shops and hacking down fleeing Bambam villagers. Musa, a native of Bambam, also related that while attempting to run for his life he personally counted 13 corpses.
Another native who identified himself as Amos said he saw 10 corpses as he fled the village during the attack. Amos further disclosed that it was impossible for him to discern who was who as some of the dead were burnt along with their houses.
Recounting his own experience, a part-time shop owner and motor cyclist who gave his name as Mohammed Idrisu said that he fled his shop on his motor cycle when he saw other buildings near his shop getting burnt.
Idrisu also confirmed that the attackers were uninterested in the religious affiliations of their victims as they attacked everyone they came across.
"They don't care what you are," said Idrisu, "they just attack you and if you are unlucky they will kill you and burn your house." Idrisu further noted that as at the time he fled the village, he was aware of at least 10 people whose lives had been lost, three of them quite close to his burnt shop. He also mentioned that he later confirmed the death of five more persons, adding that the death toll was probably higher than the 15 he was personally aware of.
The nature of the fierce attack was such that neither the Imam nor the chief of the village were spared. Both men were said to have escaped while their houses were burnt. Also, two mosques, two churches, the market, several houses and vehicles were razed. One of the burnt vehicles, a mini-bus, was reportedly attached to the mosque where the imam of the village usually preached.
When Weekly Trust arrived on the scene on Friday, 8th September 2000, some fairly big shops in the market area were still smouldering in flames. A man who refused to give his name told our reporter that these were shops that were partly used as stores for grains by their owners.
Attempts to speak with the chief of the village proved unsuccessful as his whereabouts could not be ascertained. Similarly, the imam was said to have sought refuge in a safe place and as such could not be reached for comments.
In the same vein, efforts to reach the pastor of at least one of the burnt churches proved abortive as no one could say where the clerics had fled.
Indeed, under the admittedly tense atmosphere of the village, it appeared everyone who was anyone in the village had relocated, at least temporarily, for obvious insecurity reasons. Furthermore, Bambam had taken on the look of a ghost town as very few people could be seen in the village and, invariably, these were people trying to leave with their belongings. Apart from the ashes of burnt houses, vehicles and other properties, evidence of the wanton destruction that took place in the village could be seen in broken pots and other house-hold utensils, fresh graves and random pro-Sharia inscriptions hurriedly scribbled on walls in English and Arabic. Some of the inscriptions read: 'Sharia no going back,' 'Sharia forever' and 'Sharia is a most' (sic).
Idrisu, who acted as a guide to our reporter, said that though the attacks had ceased, the people felt too insecure to remain in their homes. Asked why he had not taken to his heels like the others, Idrisu replied, "I have no where else to go."
One of the other eyewitnesses of the bizarre event, Amos, also expressed similar sentiments, saying, "this na my village, I no get another place to go." However, Amos, who makes a living loading vehicles alongside Musa at the Bambam junction along the Gombe - Yola highway, declared that he was certainly not going to sleep in his partially burnt home as he didn't know what could happen next. As such, for him and Musa, temporary sleeping quarters near a detachment of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) deployed to the village junction would have to suffice. In the same manner, a handful of the remaining residents of the community sought refuge with a detachment of the Mobile Unit of the NPF stationed at the village police station.
A non-native resident of Bambam, a trader who gave his name as John Ukonna said he was relocating his business further north to Lafiya- Lamurde because he was not sure of what would happen next. Ukonna also said that in his seven years in Bambam he had never experienced anything remotely similar to the incident of what he called 'Terrible Thursday'. "It was terrible," said Ukonna, "in fact that day should go down in history as 'Terrible Thursday' because of the very terrible things people could do to their fellow human beings." As at the time Ukonna spoke to our reporter, he was busy tying up his things to leave.
Quite a large number of people had already left the community as at Friday, September 8 2000. Also, more people gathered around the highway junction seeking to hitch rides in either direction. However, vehicles were hard to come by, especially from the Gombe end. This was because a member of the state branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) was reportedly killed along with two passengers in his vehicle the previous day. This led the NURTW to order its members to stay off the Gombe - Numan/Jalingo/Yola routes.
A member of the state NURTW who spoke to Weekly Trust at the Gombe main park on condition of anonymity confirmed the death of one of their drivers at Bambam but said he was not in a position to reveal the deceased's name.
On Friday (September 8, 2000) the state NURTW held a meeting and extended their 'no-go areas' to include Kaltungo, about an hour's drive away from Bambam. Informed sources said this was done out of fear that the disturbances in Bambam could spread to Kaltungo and Billiri, areas where there had been peaceful protests for and against sharia prior to the Bambam incident.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2000 Weekly Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
