For anyone heading out to Tsafe from the rain-stricken southwest of Nigeria as is to be expected around the middle of any year, it will take close to 16 hours riding by road to complete the journey and this would be picturing an arrival that finds farmers in the Zamfara state local district returning home from the fields but that is most certainly not how it has always been.

Middle May witnessed another sheer open, blatant banditry when an opportunity opened for one group of terrorists reported to have kidnapped two female students learning at Tsafe’s College of Health Science and Technology.

Suppose such kidnappings occurred in the northwest region, it brings to the minds of victims’ families as well as security analysts that Abubakar Abdullahi commonly known as Dogo Gide could have been responsible.

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It is this viral bandit lord’s monstrous precedence that earned him the reputation, like when he and his crew bombed passengers aboard a Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC) train that was travelling from the Federal Capital Territory to Kaduna state on 28 March 2022.

But Mr Abdullahi and his arms-bearing-underlings are attempting new roles involving protection. The Kizara village in Tsafe is the beneficiary of this gesture. Now, people can get on with farming activities without worrying about being abducted or killed.

One resident who for the sake of safety is anonymous in a Premium Times report said Dogo Gide has relocated to Kizara, a community at the eastern fringe of Magami, after his encounter with the military and has assumed control of turfs in the areas. He directed farmers to return to their farms without fear of abduction or seizure of properties.

The villagers feeling so relaxed have appreciated the high-ranking bandit in a song by an uncredited musician.

In the storytelling of this song, a community rued the moments when no one dared to visit their farms but now there is a joy in a new possibility. Agriculture in particular is a way of life in Zamfara state as up to 80% of the population is thought to be involved actively or passively with farming specifically. Over there farming is an occupation of pride.

He likes the poor; the perpetrators of injustice are afraid of you; whenever he arrives at their place, they all scatter. In the Fulani tribe, nobody is like Dogo Gide. He is the fence we lean on; the oppressed will not forget what he has done to us. As you arrived in our areas, you stopped the bandits terrorising us, and villagers found succour with the coming of Dogo Gide, reels a rough translation from one of the Hausa verses.

The song continues: He has empathy, a cheerful giver; his generosity has no boundaries, and he has done good things in villages and bushes.

The commander has sowed the seeds of justice; he is preaching and warning people to stop bloodshed, he doesn’t mingle with insincere persons, we are wishing you well.

Even if villagers who have lived through the trauma of enslavement and loss of freedom now rejoice, it does not take away the active threat lying in their midst whether offering protection or not.

Reports confirm that the terrorist has not asked for any contribution from Kizara villagers since he arrived even though they asked him. He only told them to get on with their farming routine.

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Perhaps this Maru-born criminal who facilitated the 5 July 2021 abduction of Bethel Baptist Secondary School students in Kaduna understands the delicate problem going on with food production.

It is no doubt welcoming news that farming can now go on safely but three months ago the rumoured death of Dogo Gide’s after a battle with a Nigeria Army unit was what most were celebrating. This was shortly after bandits abducted 137 students at a different school in Kaduna when Dogo Gide was reportedly called in reinforcement because the military squad they were confronting had gained the upper hand.

Troops of the Nigeria Army Operation Hadarin Daji (OPHD) taskforce reportedly shot Dogo Gide and he suffered life-threatening wounds that drove him to a Sokoto State hospital. He had died according to several reports although the accounts were also disputed. On the army’s side, there was no official statement about the terrorist dying.

Events unfolding have shown that the army didn’t need to make any comment to affirm or repudiate as the terrorist is still alive and kicking. Next, is what will the army do now that it is public knowledge where Dogo Gide has been hibernating since they last met?

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