Believe it or not, there is a man in Nigeria who is neither a police nor soldier, but has been able to capture criminals without using any weapon whatsoever.
His name is Alhaji Shehu Musa Aljan, and by some unconventional means, he has been able to arrest those who have been giving citizens of Plateau sleepless nights, and handing the hoodlums to the Special Task Force (STF) during Jos crisis.
Aljan, whose name means ‘Spirit’ in Hausa language, says he can identify and disarm a criminal just by looking at him. In a chat with Daily Sun, the crime-buster tells his story and how he is working to save the country from miscreants. Read the excerpt below:
My origin
I grew up in Bauchi but I am an indigene of Kaduna State. I was born in Jagidin Gari, in Jammah Local Government area but I grew up in Bauchi. There is nowhere in Nigeria that I have not gone to work. The nation is facing a serious problem with militia groups that steal, kill and destroy. This situation needs all and sundry to assist. I have been working around these troubled areas. Everyone that loves this country should help so that even the poor can sleep well, wake up and pursue their daily bread without hindrance.
For long, I have been going into the hinterlands to track down those causing trouble for the country, yet nobody has ever paid me a kobo for the job. Even the military has not been doing the job I am doing for the country. I go on my own to bring armed robbers to them. I do not go with any of their men to effect arrest. I go with men under me to places that the security forces cannot penetrate and bring them out for law to take its course. We know how we smoke them out of their hideouts.
Operation in Plateau State
The head of the Special Task Force on Jos crisis (STF) in Plateau is hard working, a nice person. We work hand in hand. When I go out on our operations in the night, he keeps awake till we are through with the operation. I have no relationship with the government of Plateau State. I am not into politics. But the state government is not offended by what I am doing here because it wants peace. Since I started working in Plateau, I have arrested about 28 people with their ammunition and stolen cattle. They confessed that they are not working alone but are being hired by people to commit all these atrocities. It is not only the Fulani doing all these destructions. They are of different tribes working together in teams. There are Fulani, Berom and (Yargan) Taroh, all working together to do the attacks. They have people they report to. After carrying out successful operations, they have their agents and sponsors who receive and sell all the loot. They are Nigerians and are residents of those places where these atrocities are taking place. Like the arrest we made recently in Kurgwi, all of them that took part in the attack are from Plateau. I caught them with their ammunition, brought them here and handed them over to STF.
It not true that some of those arrested are not thieves but innocent cattle owners going about with their cows in the bush. From their shoes, caps or anything on them, we can detect them. I do not need to be told who the assailants are before I know them. By mere seeing them I know who they are. If the Nigerian government wants peace, let it enter into alliance with those of us using traditional methods to detect criminals. Our groups exist in different parts of the country. By so doing, all these attacks would be minimized. Money is being wasted unnecessarily in funding soldiers and those of us that have our own traditional ways of solving these problems are dying of hunger. I can boldly say that what I have done in two months, the security men have not done in the last 12 years. There is someone they have been looking for in the past six years, I was the one that went and arrested him. I arrested him in Riyom. I have arrested many, close to 30. I first arrested 16. Then I brought five. And recently, I arrested six with their ammunition.
I’m not persecuting any religion
Nobody brought me to Plateau to disarm the Muslims and give their arms to Christians. I have no business with which religion people are practising. Mine is for all of them to be law abiding. I have arrested people from both religions. I have arrested Yangam, Angas, Berom, Fulani, and Hausa, both Christians and Muslims. Anybody I arrest is a criminal.
I have people from different tribes working with me and if not that I have my own businesses generating money, how would I be taking care of those under me? If it was the state government that brought me here, will I be worried about taking care of my men? I went to Taraba and Nasarawa recently to arrest thieves. I am here because I am after criminals.
Me and Kaduna governors
I never met the late Governor Patrick Yakowa, but I worked with his deputy, the present governor of the state. He even allocated a new vehicle to me. I was also given an assignment in Delta when I went to arrest four notorious kidnappers who had been on their wanted list. They discovered then that they also had links with influential men. To divert my attention from what I was doing, they told me a job was waiting for me and that the IG wanted to see me, only for me to discover it was a lie. This annoyed me greatly.
Solution to attacks in Plateau villages
We experience burning of houses and killing of people in the villages because large number of people there lack a means of livelihood. The Berom and Fulani have been together for close to 100 years, with the Fulani owning their cows and the Berom owning their landed properties. Will the Fulani just wake up one day to start burning houses and cars of the Berom or will the Berom just start killing cattle of the Fulani? That is not possible. There are people in government coming to bail criminals. It is annoying seeing arrested criminals walking the streets as free men.
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