Ansaru militant group bans political activities in Kaduna communities

The Ansaru militant group has reportedly banned political activities in some communities in Birnin-Gwari LGA of Kaduna, where its fighters are said to have bases.

This was revealed by the Chairman of Birnin-Gwari Emirate Progressives Union, Ishaq Kasai, in a statement on Sunday.

He said the group regularly recruits young residents and marry the young girls.

According to Kasai, Ansaru has banned political activities in many communities in the eastern part of Birnin-Gwari LGA. He said in the statement: “In fact, the group continues to gain acceptance from many members of the communities, particularly in old Kuyello and Damari communities in Kazage Ward.

The Ansaru and the recruits are of the belief that their numerical strength will help them to bring the present democratic government down.

“Presently the Ansaru are going round  distributing memory cards to the locals which contains their beliefs and doctrine.

“A disturbing scenario is where the group banned all political activities in many communities such as Damari of Kazage Ward.

“Politicians from these communities have to go far away secretly to the neighboring communities before they hold political meetings.

“For instance, this week an Okada rider who lives in Unguwar Makera of Kazage Ward was seen with a sticker of one of the candidates vying for the Kaduna State House of Assembly and he was thoroughly beaten by the Ansaru.”

“People in these communities are now disenchanted and frustrated about participating in political activities.

“We don’t know how the coming elections will take place in those areas because even the last Local Government election in Kaduna state did not hold in those communities due to the escalating insecurity.

“In short, the Ansaru are now in charge of many of the communities in the area and the group is expanding its occupation.

“The terrorists now call the shots and determine what is to be done in the villages they are dominating.”…

Bandits: We’ll kill train passengers if FG fails to meet our demands; Records video at Army base + Photo

The bandits who abducted passengers on a Kaduna-bound train last month have threatened to kill them if the Federal Government fails to meet their demands.

In a video released on Wednesday, the armed men said they were not interested in money, adding that the Federal Government knows what they were asking for.

The video, which was less then two minutes, had four of the bandits with one of the abducted passengers: Alwan Hassan, Managing Director of Bank of Agriculture.

One of them, who spoke in Hausa, said the MD was released due to his age and in the spirit of Ramadan. Daily Trust observed that the terrorists, clad in military uniform, made the video at the Forward Operational Base in Polwire, Birnin Gwari, Kaduna State, which was attacked on Monday.

One of the Armoured Personnel Carriers that was burnt during the attack was used as a background in the video.

The spokesman said: “We are the group that kidnapped passengers on the train few days ago.

“Among them is this man that was pleading with us due to his old age and we felt pity on him due to the month of Ramadan, so, we want to give him back to his family.

“But the government should not misunderstand this, as it is a gesture we made because of the pity we had on him.”

The bandits then asked the MD to make some remarks.

Speaking briefly, Hassan said he was released out of pity.

He said: “I want to witness to everyone that they took pity on me due to my old age.

“I was told to go out but I want to assure everyone that I left huge number of people behind and they are in situation that requires help for them to be released fast.

“I hope that government will meet the head of this group to release as them as soon as possible.”

One of the bandits added: “I want to reiterate that what he said is true.

“Don’t try to try to investigate us immediately …