Zamfara-Funtua Highway: Telling The Sad Story

ZAMFARA-FUNTUA HIGHWAY: TELLING THE SAD STORY

By Anas Sani Anka

It is becoming crystal clear that majority of the concern stakeholders in Nigeria are using the “conspiracy of silence” to continue to allow things to degenerate by making traveling along Gusau-Funtua highway too complex to contain.

It seems from the way things are going, life of typical Zamfara person no longer matters to the Nigerian authorities because the seriality of attacks along Gusau-Funtua highway and on the daily basis is becoming a serious source of concern.

The federal authorities from our perception have demonstrated their in-activeness to address the praising security challenges, poised by the criminal bandits and the Governor, on the other hand, seems looking helpless on what to do to secure this road and the media is not praising hard on the need for the world to know what average Zamfara person is going through on that road.

It is sad to mention that we have three senators and seven House of reps members but no one for the past one month to the best of our knowledge stood up to raise the suffering of Zamfara people regarding that ever-busy road on the floor of the national assembly.

Except the people who leverage on the antics of the social media,veven the elders, the religious leaders and indeed our royal fathers are not speaking appropriate sense to the authorities with a view to come back to their senses and do the best to make this significant and very important highway secured.

Yesterday a whole Auditor General and conglomeration of other prominent Zamfara people including women and children suffered a lot in the hands of these criminal bandits.

Based on the unconfirmed revelations, this medium learned that these criminal bandits blocked Gusau-Funtua highway six times on Sunday the 21/10/2024.

They have abducted scores of people and injured several others without a step taken to improve the hope of the common person playing that road.

Before now, it was in between Magazu and Kucheri village that became a death trap to commuters using that road, but now as soon as you leave Kwatarkwashi town every spot can be a terminal to end one’s life.

Regarding the Sunday operations, this medium learned that the bandit criminals blocked both Tazane axis, extend their operations to Fegin Baza as well as in between Yankara and Sheme.

Like we mentioned during our last week editorial, nobody is safe on that road reminding our readers of the unfortunate incident involving the commandant of the Community Protection Guards who was attacked and severely injured, the seven other members of the CPG that were killed in Tsafe as well as long list of other victims.

It was too unfortunate that the stories of many people who became victims of the armed bandit attacks on that same highway has never been told, simply because of the complexity of the tragedy.

Zamfara tragedy for almost some months now does not attract even a sympathy message from the federal government let alone delegation to come and share a moment of sorrow with us.

If the Minister of Defense (State) Bello Matawalle cannot drop his political difference with the Governor and come back home to visit his people and share a moment with them, what about the senior Minister Badaru who has nothing against the seating Governor?

Zamfara people feel isolated as if they are not essential part of the federal government of Nigeria.

We agree that we caused our problems by ourselves because of our “hypocrisy”, but it is not enough to allow the innocent ones who largely does not depend on the government or politics to suffer mercilessly in the hand of the bandits.

As things are, nobody can work with an iota of hope on Gusau-Funtua highway because of the fear of the bandits and the authorities seems too helpless to find a lasting solution to this delicate concern.

It is high time, the government of Zamfara and indeed all stakeholders in the security architecture to revisit the strategies currently used in managing security challenges along Gusau-Funtua highway they are no longer working and things are falling apart on that section of the state.

As for the federal government it is good to remember that Zamfara is part of Nigeria, and it has more than half of the population of powerful countries like Israel which has a population of (9) millions and some thousands.

Our number matters, so our lives shall matter much.

May God rescue Zamfara in the hands of the criminal bandits.