By Maryam Umar
The sun cast its usual fiery rays over the campus of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto(UDUS). It’s the final week of the second semester examinations, and as expected, students clutched their belongings in preparation to travel home for the holiday.
Gambari Abubakar Sidiq, a 300-level law student whose sullen face told another story just like others —materialising a mental crisis and signalling a cut between the crossing fire to go home or face the scary stories of the Sokoto-Ilorin road.
“I have been dreaming of going home and reuniting with my family after nine months, but the recent surge in abduction of people on the road killed that enthusiasm.”
A blend of excitement and anxiety marked his face, Gambari now waits to ensure his safety before travelling. The news of kidnappings and banditry attacks along the Niger state axis has been the major source of fear, and there are only alternatives to avoid being a victim: pay the exorbitant flight fees, which many students can’t afford, or stay back in school.
The anxiety plaguing the minds of traveling students is not baseless, the menace of kidnapping has become increasingly in recent times. According to a report by BBC Africa, more than 600 students were abducted within a year in north-west Nigeria, this highlights a worrying development in the country’s kidnap-for-ransom crisis.
Recently, the crisis struck UDUS students more closely as their colleague and a newly-inducted radiographer, Basherah Ojedeyi, was abducted by kidnappers along the Niger State axis while returning to Osun State from her induction ceremony in Sokoto. The family of the victim disclosed that the kidnappers are demanding a ransom of N200m to secure her release. This has left the whole university community in utter despair.
Despite the dreadful and demoralizing situation, Yakub Saheed, a 100-level student of Civil Engineering who hails from Kwara State expressed his concern while reiterating his desire to travel home for the holiday. He is well aware of the dangers of traveling through the Niger route but his longing for his parent’s warmth surpasses the fear.
“The situation is scary but it has not changed my desire to go home for the holiday in any way,” he said.
While other students are skeptical, Saheed strongly believes he would make it home safely with prayers and adequate security consciousness.
The widespread anxiety is not limited to those traveling through the Niger route.
According to Punch, Ojedeyi’s abduction came barely one week after a newly-called-to-the-bar lawyer, Peace Udoka Onyesom, was kidnapped alongside her sister, Gift, while they were returning from the ceremony in Abuja.
Echoing Gambari Sodiq, Rofiat Abdullah, a 300-level student of Agricultural Sciences recounted her scary ordeal while traveling from Abuja to Sokoto after her first semester break. They were just leaving Zamfara highway while their bus was stopped by Military personnel who claimed that Bandits were operating a few miles away. The soldiers urged them to stop the journey to avoid death or gruesome attack. Soon after, they heard multiple sounds of gunshots that confirmed the presence of Bandits in the vicinity.
Rofiat further disclosed that they spent the whole night in the bus praying vehemently for the bandits not to come to their direction, when they took off the next morning, traces of the operation including the dead bodies of the victims were still left on the road. The experience instilled insurmountable fear in every of the passengers who were all students and Rofiat is not an exception.
“The possibility of me dying that evening scares me so much that I’m having mixed feelings about traveling for this holiday,” she said.
More Students Explain their Plight
A 300-level Law student and a resident of FCT Abuja, Hassan Habibah expressed great distress over the fearful situation. She disclosed that her excitement trailed off when she heard of Ojedeyi’s abduction, as much as she would love to go home to see her loved ones, her desire to survive surpassed her eagerness to leave the Campus.
According to a report by research gate, Africa accounts for 51.4% of kidnapping incidents globally, with 29.7% from Nigeria alone. The government has over the years established several operations through its security apparatus to curb the menace of insecurity, yet, the problem continued to spread like wildfire. It’s not clear what strategies these kidnappers utilize but it is obvious that they have the strength, resources and connection.
Speaking with Abdulmalik Kawu, the President of Ilorin Emirate Student Union(IESU), one of the leading associations that coordinates transport for traveling students, he disclosed that the IESU executives decided to postpone the movement of their buses because of the current insecurity. However, they realized the need for students to go home. Therefore, a new and safer arrangement was devised instead.
“The new arrangement is to ensure that all buses move at a convenient time to for security measures”
He further stated how the government intervention to insecurity in the country has not been yield positive while there are rapid kidnapping and banditry. So, government are urged to do the needful.
“The reality is that no matter how long we postpone, it is general knowledge that the government is not doing much about the bandit issue. So, our duty is to move our people home safely, with prayers and prudence,” He explained.