Zamfara: A theatre of blood and gold

In fact one can safely say that the state governors since 1999 have contributed very little to the areas listed above, apart from introducing Sharia law and chopping off people’s legs and hands. So in a situation where the gap between the have and the have not is not just wide it is very wide, what happens then is that the hungry will fine anyway to live. The truth is their government can not blame them because it is the same government that failed them 

ZAKKA  DAN-ASABE l Monday, May 27, 2019

ZAMFARA, Nigeria – Zamfara State in Northwest Nigeria has been ravaged by bandits and kidnappers for over two years now. Intelligence reports say there is a nexus between politics, the quest for human development, the illicit gold mining industry and the killings in Zamfara.

It is difficult to put a figure to the killings. However, for a crisis that has spanned well over two years, the death toll is better imagined. Hundreds have been killed in Zamfara since 2015 and hundreds have been buried in mass graves. 

The modus operandi of the bandits very simple: they raid villages, tear down doors, drag the heads of homes from houses and hurl them into forests. In the forests, they establish contact with the families and demand a ransom. Once this ransom doesn’t arrive on time, they proceed to killing their victims. At other times, the bandits just kill for fun.

May be may be not, the real reason behind the endless and mindless killings and terrorism in Zamfara, is due to the activities of gold miners and their sponsors. Gold is a precious stone. It is money. It has brought immense wealth to many countries just as the love and struggle for it has sent millions to early graves. Perhaps that is what is playing out in Zamfara.

We were once told that the remote cause of the killings and bloodbath was livestock rustling (especially cattle) and the resistance by angry herdsmen. But who are the rustlers? Where are they from? This mystery is yet unravalled. Latter Nigerians learnt that politicians were sponsoring the killings for their usual selfish gains which is power. But after the election, the killings intensified. Yet again, we were told that traditional rulers are the problem as they refused the people land to farm part of the contentious land are now gold mining sites.

Today, what Nigerians hear is that illegal miners (gold miners) have been asked to leave mining sites/grounds as their licenses have been revoked. This allegation confirms the speculations that illegal mining activities have been going on for over seven years and government is aware yet did nothing about it. Critics worry that the country must have lost a fortune to these illegal miners who are believed to be hiding under the cover of the pretence of government not to know that such brisk business has been going on.

This illegality has cast a shadow on the sincerity or otherwise of government especially on the killings in Zamfara. Unconfirmed reports suggest that two prominent Nigerians of Northern extraction have their names linked to the gold mines which have caused deaths to over 350 children and 125 women in the last six months no thanks to inhaling of lead coming out from the dust particles of raw gold in the mining sites. 

Investigations show that this could be the real cause of the conflict leading to the mindless killings and bloodbath. Over the years the traditional rulers of areas of the mining sites have come under immense pressure from their subjects asking for the sites to be closed down and sealed off to save their lives from lead-induced deaths especially as they don’t gain anything from the mining activities .But those reaping the gains of the mining activities talking about the billionaire sponsors of the miners whom I chose to call “gold diggers” are resisting this and stoutly too.

This has led to several attacks coming in form and shape of cattle rustling, land disputes, communal clashes, kidnappings and outright killings. The “gold diggers” arm their killer-cronies with guns and machetes. They go on a killing spree each time, the locals attempt to put an end to the mining activities. This has attracted people and interest from far and wide….to escalate the whole issue as it has now gone beyond government control particularly after the colouration of terror and herdsmen attacks givento the killings.

Terror group like Boko Haram which has discovered that the gold mining sites in Zamfara is another cool way of making money to fund their terror activities by moving the gold to neighbouring countries like Niger Republic for onward “export” and sale has deceitfully and tactically turned Zamfara into a battle ground. Lack of commitment to flush out the criminals as displayed by government at the early stages of this crisis paved way for the group to gain ground in Zamfara.

As the world watches to know how government hopes to put an end to these killings and bloodbath, one fact may have been established. It is that government knows the genesis of the trouble in Zamfara but pretend not to by turning a blind eye. Why would an illegal mining of gold which other countries live on by ways of earning foreign exchange be going on within the country yet government pretend not to know.

Another strong and reasonable reason the government both the federal and the state have refuse to look at is the level of physical development of the state. It is an open secret that Zamfara is the least develops state in Nigeria. It is the last in nation’s primary school enrolment list, it is also last in NECO/WAEC list of number of those who write the exams and its human development capacity is zero.

In fact one can safely say that the state governors since 1999 have contributed very little to the areas listed above, apart from introducing Sharia law and chopping off people’s legs and hands. So in a situations where the gap between the have and the have not is not just wide it is very wide, what happens then is that the hungry will fine anyway to live. The truth is their government can not blame them because it is the same government that failed them.   

One hopes that in finding a lasting solution to the Zamfara killings, government should make its presence felt by sending in troops to flush out the terrorists and quell the crisis by arresting the bandits. The illegal miners must be brought to book. Whoever is involved in this mammoth cleanup of our commonwealth must be made to face the music. The owners of the land used as mining sites must be duly compensated and relocated to a place they can call befitting homes.

Government should immediately takeover the mining sites and the same laws and treatment affecting oil exploration or mining implemented on it.

Zamfara must be free from these killings and bloodbath. She must be free from killer-miners, their sponsors and terrorists who also could be sponsored by the billionaires aiding this crime. Enough of the movies from this theatre of blood and gold.