By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal has announced plans to demolish Reymond (Remon), a village at Dambuwa area of Dange Shuni Local Government.
The village was uncovered to be a hideout for all sort of criminals in Sokoto State.
Tambuwal, who visited the area around 11:30am on Tuesday, said most of the residents were living there illegally.
This decision followed Daily Trust investigation published penultimate Sunday which exposed all the illegal activities taking place in the area.
According to the investigation by Abubakar Auwal, drugs, prostitution, armed robbery and all sorts of crimes are the exchange currency at the village.
The area is said to provide shelter to all sort of criminals, including drugs peddlers, cultists, teenage prostitutes and even armed robbers.
It is a place where people go to look for their stolen goods and parents go in search of their missing teenage girls, which they, in most cases, recover.
Malam Muhammad, a resident of Kwasai area, which is a few meters from Raymond village, disclosed how he traced the thief that broke into his house to Raymond Village.
“The unwanted guest came in the middle of the night. He broke into my room, stole our phones and ran away.
“When I realised what happened, I woke all my children up and we started tracing his footsteps which ended in a house at Remon Village. We succeeded in apprehending the suspect and recovering all our phones after which we handed him over to the police.
“The place is giving the people living around that area a sleepless night. It harbours all sorts of criminals; most of whom are not from Sokoto State,” he said.
The resident, who sought anonymity, said they had written complaint letters to security agencies, Sokoto state government and traditional rulers but no serious measures have been taken to address the problem.
“They will only send police to patrol the area for some days, that is all.
“We want the government to take over the place even if that will mean relocating innocent residents of the area to another place,” he said.
The village head of Dambuwa, Alhaji Abubakar Dambuwa, recalled the several efforts they had made in the past to make those doing illegal businesses in the area change for the better.
“What is going on there is abominable and irreligious. No religion, whether Islam or Christianity, condones it.
“A lot of immoral things are going on there. They do all sort of things and this is affecting the moral upbringing of our children, especially the girls.
“You will not understand the gravity of the information you have about the place until you visit the area.”
On the effort he made to bring sanity to the area, he said “I had been making effort to make them change before I was down with old age and sickness.
“I used to invite the people doing all these things to my palace and counsell them on the need to change their businesses with lawful ones but they never heeded my advice,” he said.
