The ’Yan Daba
p. 5-15
Texte intégral
1The emergence of many of these mafioso-type gangs in northern Nigeria can be traced back to the formation of political parties, during the period prior to independence (i.e., before 1960). As independence approached, and the colonial administration began to give way to the new ruling class, the rich aristocrats, the emirs and elites began to align themselves into political parties. Prominent among these was the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC). To establish and consolidate their grip on political power, the party hierarchy covertly used the traditional palace police, the dogarai,9 to intimidate their opponents. The dogarai were employed in the palace for life; they were housed in special quarters in the large compounds of the emirs. During political campaigns, they were given incentives by their lords to ensure total loyalty.
2Around that time, an important rival political party, the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU), was formed by the late Mallam Aminu Kano and such political associates as Hajia Gambo Sawaba, to champion the cause of the masses (talakawa). They also saw the need to create a special unit of bodyguards to protect NEPU’s political stalwarts against the dogarai of the NPC.
3Although most of the founders of these old political parties are dead, their ideologies still found a voice in subsequent political parties such as the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC). Wherever party politics was active, the dogarai provided the necessary protection for the party bosses.
4The instability of democratic rule in Nigeria, due to the unceasing intervention of the military into politics, however, meant that these political thugs had to secure other means of survival. Used to living off the largesse of their political leaders, they found that military rule meant joblessness. Their transformation into gangs of dangerous criminals was not difficult, given the hard-biting economic situation.
5In an article titled, ’Yan daba in the next republic: Prospects for reform, Galadanchi10 lamented the indifference of the northern representatives at the 1995 constitutional conference to the danger inherent in the re-emergence of the ’Yan daba within our political, economic, cultural and religious spheres. These gangs, which he calls the area boys of the North, constitute the most potent source of social insecurity in northern Nigeria. Acting on his own initiative, he sensitized government to the activities of these groups and their negative consequences vis-a-vis the political progress of the nation.
Profile and Origins of Members
6The membership of the ’Yan Daba is made up mainly of men, but also incudes a few women and children. Membership is not restricted to the poor, but includes children from royal and highly educated families, the top echelon of the military, students from universities and other tertiary institutions, Quranic schools and children of single parents.
Circumstances leading to membership
7Juvenile delinquency is usually the outcome of a combination of diverse social and economic factors, especially weak family ties, single parent households and poverty. Poor social values, lack of education or training that could provide an income and the frequent change of residence are also contributing factors.
8Divorce, which can result in a total disruption of family life is an important factor in social deviance. While the northern Christian cannot marry more than one wife and cannot divorce her easily, a northern Muslim can marry four wives and does not have much difficulty in divorcing her. Traditional social values that promote strong family relationships based on mutual respect and obedience are often weak in urban areas, where divorce and remarriage are more common. Children are often the casualties of their parents’ marital failures; the lack of parental guidance is a major cause of delinquency among children and young adults. Once a child is denied affection by his/her natural parents or step parents he/she may seek attention elsewhere. The child may run away from home, irrespective of how attractive the new abode might be. Such children often find illusory ‘comfort’ in the fold of the ’Yan Daba.
9Other factors, such as the lack of formal and moral education, alcoholism and abject poverty also constitute grave problems. Nonetheless, many young delinquents are oblivious to the full consequences of their anti-social behaviour.
10In the North, a large percentage of children who become delinquent are those sent by their parents to the cities to acquire Quranic education – Almajiranchi.11 Left to the mercy of their mallams (teachers), who do not provide a home for them, these pupils roam the streets to beg for alms and food at all hours of the day. As they grow older, some may engage in unskilled labour to generate income for their mallams; however, our study has shown that many of these young pupils join the various street gangs and become agents of destruction participating in the violence, which has characterized the recent religious and ethnic conflicts in northern Nigeria.12
Targets, Residence and Mode of Operation
Targets
11The traditional targets of the ’Yan Daba were political opponents (high and low); however, because political activity is at a low ebb during military rule, these groups prey on the wealthy, rival gangs and the police.
Activities
12The activities of the ’Yan Daba include: political and politically motivated thuggery and vandalism; petty stealing, looting and armed robbery; intra- and inter-gang warfare; maiming and mindless violence including burning of buildings; fomenting riots, religious and ethnic conflicts; and rape.
Places of operation
13In 1995, Bashir Karaye, the Kano State Commissioner for Information and Culture, published a complaint in the Triumph Newspaper listing the usual places where the ’Yan Daba operate. Some of the well-known places include: Kano – Kwanar Goda, Gyaranya, Sabon Sara, Mandawari, Shoshe Quarters; Kaduna – Kabala, Unwar Rimi, Tudun Wada, Ungwar Sarki, Ungwar Shanu, Badarawa, Hayin Banki, Bakin Ruwa, Tudun Nufawa, Rigachikun, Rigasa, Tudunwada Zaria; Maiduguri – Bulunkutu, Tashan Bama, Tashan Baga, Jajeri, Hausari, Wulari, Gomari.13
Where they reside
14The ’Yan Daba live either separately or collectively in settlements popularly known as unguwa (ward or quarters). In most cases, the security operatives know their hideouts. Some members of the gangs still reside with their parents, but most live outside the home, in hotels, rented rooms or houses, in abandoned, uncompleted buildings, cinema houses, garages and motor parks, around river banks and market places.
Tools used in operations
15Among the tools used for an operation are knives of various sizes, razor blades, matchets, cutlasses, nails, iron rods and hammers, and broken bottles, guns (imported and locally made). The more affluent amongst them have cars and even cellular telephones.
16Another device used by the ’Yan Daba is hypnotism. Victims are often rendered totally helpless when under a hypnotic spell and will thus open the doors of their homes and bring out all their money and jewellry.
Intoxicants used
17Many ’Yan Daba are heavy smokers of cigarettes and Indian hemp (marijuana) and use drugs such as cocaine, ICD, ajigarau. Other intoxicants such as beer, whisky and locally produced alcoholic drinks like ogogoro, burukutu and kinkana are also used
Mode of Operation
The political arena
18First and foremost, the ’Yan Daba have no stated or specified function in Nigeria’s formal political sector; neither do they have documented political party manifestoes. Yet they are an integral part of most the northern-based political parties. If a political party wishes to ensure victory in party elections, at any level, it must employ the services of the ’Yan Daba. This is by either recruiting and forming its own, or by hiring those available. The ’Yan Daba, therefore, are like an army of mercenaries, available for hire at any time, to protect party members, to instil fear in the voters and to rig elections. During political rallies they paste handbills on walls and trees, carry placards and move about on motorcycles and in cars. The ’Yan Daba appeared regularly on the scene during the days of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), National Party of Nigeria (NPN), Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), as well as the National Republican Convention (NRC). They were used to create intra- and inter-party conflicts, and they were capable of frustrating the political future of any candidate their "bosses" disliked.
19A clear case of political hostility by the ’Yan Daba in Kano took place on 10 July 1981. There was an intra-party power struggle in the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) between the followers of Alhaji Aminu Kano, seen not only as their mentor but also as the champion of the cause of the talakawa and the new breed redemptionists, such as followers of Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, the then governor of Kano State, and Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the governor of Kaduna State. The crisis generated bitter strife between political stalwarts. Alhaji Abubakar Rimi and Alhaji Balarabe Musa were seen as ingrates and renegades by the orthodox party leadership. They, however, did not go unpunished. Rimi’s friend and political adviser, Dr. Bala Mohammed had his house surrounded by an armed group of ’Yan Daba, who were loyal to Alhaji Aminu Kano. They murdered Bala Mohammed and burned his body to ashes before setting his house ablaze.
20The ’Yan Daba thrived during the political era for the obvious reason that political heavyweights who wanted to win elections by any means, or consolidate their hold on power, were willing to spend money on them. According to Rufai:14
the clandestine meetings between powerful reactionary forces within the NPN, Aminu Kano and his gang are too well documented. The whole operation was too carefully executed and completed...
21There were allegations linking Alhaji Mohammadu Marwa, the leader of the Maitatsine sect, who led an unfortunate religious uprising, with the supply of manpower, weapons and charms for the execution of a political party’s thuggery. This, however, remains a mere allegation.
22In another instance during the Second Republic, an inter-party conflict between the National Party of Nigeria (the ruling party) and the Great Nigeria People’s Party, led to an unpleasant event in Maiduguri, the capital of Bomo State. A power tussle resulted in the kidnapping and deportation of the majority leader of the State House of Assembly, Alhaji Shugaba Darman, to the Chad Republic. This deportation was a carefully masterminded mafia-style operation, carried out after Darman’s origins were allegedly traced to Chad.
23Outside the political arena, the ’Yan Daba constitute a real threat to the general public, sometimes even to their own parents. There is a case of a gang member in Kano who almost butchered his widowed mother for refusing to give him her last five naira (N5.00). On interrogation, the young man confessed that he desperately needed the money to buy a stick of Indian hemp.
24When the gang is out of money, members steal anything from wherever they can, e.g., goats, sheep, fowls. They also extort money from innocent individuals and share it among themselves.
25One dangerous aspect of the ’Yan Daba is their connection with the rank and file of the Nigeria Police Force. Gang members often boast about their influence with the police. Any member who falls into the hands of the police for whatever offence, is usually safe. All he needs to do is pass information to his bosses about his situation
26Like mafia-style gangs all over the world, secrecy is the key word among the members. Even under torture, in cases where their police connections have failed, they do not disclose their secrets. Members of the ’Yan Daba are reputed to be die-hard, and prefer to be killed than to disclose any informadon. In any case, anyone who discloses informadon to an opposing group or the police is as good as dead; he may eventually be tortured to death by his own aggrieved gang mates.
27Status within the ’Yan Daba is not determined by age but rather by one’s experience in the group, degree of loyalty, ability to influence top execudves for contracts or mercenary operadons and personal viciousness. The leader is popularly called the big boss. Strict obedience to the group rules the ’Yan Daba.
The ’Yan Daba and the Socio-Political, Religious and Ethnic Crises in Northern Nigeria
28The Second Republic under the leadership of President Shehu Usman Shagari, brought with it a new wave of socio-polidcal and religious terrorism to northern Nigeria. This turmoil has resulted in the loss of lives and property. To the ordinary man these riots were nothing but conflicts among, religious, ethnic and/or social groups. To the more discerning observer, however, it was more than this.
29Galadanchi15 observed that many of these riots were instigated by political power brokers who manipulated the ’Yan Daba for their own ends. The survival instinct, love of money and thirst for violence are the driving forces that make the ’Yan Daba sell their services to the highest bidder.
30According to Bako:16
... a viable and effective method of handling and resolving the increasing religious crisis in Nigeria must be based on a comprehensive understanding of the main roots and agents. These are located in the urban system of production, distribution and consumption of social power, goods and services; and these in turn engender the urban problems of social marginalization and alienation, economic impoverishment and political domination of the bulk of urban dwellers.
31Between 1980 and 1993, the ’Yan Daba found perfect opportunities, whenever the Maitatsine conflict escalated into violent confrontations, to visit terror on innocent people, as well as targeted enemies in Kano (Kano State), Maiduguri (Bomu State), Kaduna (Kaduna State), Gombe (Bauchi State), Yola (Adamawa State), and Funtua (Katsina State), Sokoto and Gusau (Sokoto State), Hadejia (Jigawa State), Ilorin (Kwara State) and Damaturu (Yobe State).
32The only difference between the Maitatsine sect and the ’Yan Daba is to be found in their perception of religion; otherwise, both groups harbour murderous elements and misguided religious zealots. Ten years of research on the Maitatsine sect17 reveals that its membership is comprised of the wretched of the earth – farm labour that has been displaced by capitalist agriculture, drought, famine, desertification and rinderpest, from the Sahelian north and the whole West African region. The Maitatsine sect has an efficient internal organization which makes it almost invincible.
33Like the Maitatsine, the ’Yan Daba have not only been used to trigger ethno-religious conflicts, but have been key participants in them. In such conflicts, different ethnic groups of Islamic or Christian persuasion fight along majority/minority and indigene/settler lines. Examples of past conflicts include those between:
- the Hausa-Fulani and the southern Zaria ethnic groups from Kafanchan (Kaduna State)
- the Hausa-Fulani and the Kataf (Kaduna State)
- the Hausa-Fulani and the Seyewa of Tafawa Balewa (Bauchi State)
- the Hausa-Fulani and the Jukun in Wukari, Jalingo and Takum (Taraba State)
- the Hausa-Fulani and the Birom (Plateau State)
34The ’Yan Daba are called to duty whenever the ruling elite compete for state power, private property, status and identity. In these cases each elite group tends to have its own gang of security guards, who are used as tools of protection and aggression. It may cost from thousands to millions of naira to employ the services of these gangs
Notes de bas de page
9 Dogari, Hausa for traditional palace police, dogarai or dogarawa is the plural form.
10 M. U. Galadanchi, Prospect for reform. The Triumph Newspaper (1975): 7.
11 Almajiranchi, Quranic study; almajiri, Quranic student.
12 See Iheanyi M. Enwerem, A Dangerous Awakening. The politicization of religion in Nigeria. IFRA, Ibadan, 1995, 217- 222, which lists the numerous religious clashes in northern Nigeria from 1980 to 1992.
13 B. Karaye, Help (lush out ’Yan daba. Triumph Newspaper, 1 Nov 1995, p. 11.
14 I. Rufai, Introduction to the Example of Bala Mohammed. Political repression in Nigeria. Bala Usman, ed. Gaskiya Publishing Corporation, Zaria. 1982, 119.
15 M. U. Galadanchi, ’Yan Daba in the next republic, op cit., 7.
16 S. Bako, Urbanization and religious conflicts in Nigeria. Urban Management and Urban Violence in Africa. Vol. 2. Institut Frangais de Recherche en Afrique, Ibadan, 1994, 19.
17 S. Bako, A socio-political explanation of the Islamic insurrections in northern Nigeria, 1980-1985. Ph. D. thesis. Department of Political Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 1992.
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