By; Mohammed Kawu, Bauchi
Twenty-three families of Bauchi slain vigilante members recently ambushed by gunmen in Alkaleri Local Government area of the state were offered a whooping sum of N115 million to soothen pains for the love of their beloved ones.
Making the donation on behalf of the state government in Mansur village area on Thursday, Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed said that 60 bandits were killed during the encounter with the vigilantes.
Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed stated, “The bandits too have suffered casualties as over 60 of them were killed by vigilantes and security agents”
He disclosed, “Because of the sympathy the state government and I have for the families of the fallen heroes, we are giving N5 million to each family of the deceased so that they will have something to at least rely on”.
Senator Bala Mohammed said however that for the civilians among the deceased, the government is giving each of their families, the sum of N3 million to soothen their pains.
Governor Bala disclosed that a committee has also been formed under the chairmanship of the Chairman of Alkaleri Local Government Council in collaboration with the District Heads, Security agencies to ensure equity and justice in the cash distribution.
“As for my vigilante people, I will give them N10 million to start with but the committee will also give them another N10 million to purchase whatever they can in terms of fuel to enable them take security surveillance”.
“The Governor added, “These people have come to the wrong place. We are ready to sacrifice our lives for our people to live.”
He told stakeholders, “This day we are paying a condolence visit to the Duguri Gwana communities where the bandits mounted an attack and killed 13 vigilantes and 10 civilians”.
“I want to convey to you, the commiseration of the Federal Government especially the office of the National Security Adviser. We are going to get a lot of assistance Insha-Allah from the security agencies more than what we are getting before”
“On our own part as a state government, I promise you that the vigilante organisation will employ about 2,100 before the end of the year, they will be paid N70,000 minimum wage to feed their families”, governor revealed.
‘We are starting immediately with 300-500 employment with minimum implied so that we will be able to give you work to do and we are starting with the communities that were worst hit in this incident”, he assured.
Mohammed told the vigilantes, “You are going to be trained by the security agencies. We are going to interact on the rules of engagement that will be acceptable so that there won’t be any extrajudicial killings”
He urged the communities to be wary of informants who were giving way to the bandits while sabotaging the state government, while in the midst of communities, stressing that those miscreants are the worse and the bad people coming from other places.
“I will enjoin the District Heads, the Village Heads and other leaders down the line to look around and fish out these people so we can deal with them decisively through the security agencies”.
On their part, the District Heads of Duguri ND Gwamna, Alhaji Adamu Muhammad Duguri and Alhaji Ahmed Sani Adamu Jumba respectively, the expressed gratitude to the governor and pledged judicious distribution of the money
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