Post by Leonard Isaac (@bigfishlee)

Be warned: Some issues in this post may be disturbing.

This is the back of someone who lives in a community that has entered into an agreement with Fulani kidnappers following repeated attacks. The community is now in its third year living alongside bandits.

I chose to show only his back to protect his identity. It took him a week to leave his community, which I will not name, but it's in Kajuru LGA, Kaduna State.

The man you see is married with 5 children, but his wife doesn't belong to him since the agreement was entered into. The kidnappers sleep with her whenever they feel the urge, sometimes while the children watch. If he protests, he will be shot. The same thing happened to all the women in the village. If a kidnapper leaves a blanket in front of your house or drops a stick, it's a sign that he will sleep in your house with your wife or daughter that day, while you sleep outside.

This man, like other families, can't leave the village now, though some have managed to. If you are caught, you will be shot. If you are seen walking with a bag, you will be searched. They are allowed to farm, but one quarter of the harvest goes to the bandits. They aren't allowed to own a phone, though a few have found a way around it. If you are caught, you will be shot.

You can’t wear any new clothes. A bandit will simply tell you he needs them. They aren't allowed to own torchlights. Only bandits can own torchlights in the village. You can only own an old motorcycle. They take any new one they see. It's the bandits who buy petrol and sell it to those with motorcycles in the village.

They aren't allowed to own a machete; only hoes and diggers are permitted for farming.

They can visit villages that have also entered into an agreement with the bandits. If they want to buy anything from a village that hasn't entered into an agreement, it’s their wives who are allowed to go. If the wives don’t return, the husbands and children will be shot. If the men want to go to an outside market to buy anything or sell grain, their wives and children stay behind.

Youths in the community are forced to accompany the bandits to steal or kidnap. They are forced to ride the motorcycle while the bandits sit behind with guns. If you refuse to go, you are shot.

They can't hold any church service on Sunday unless the bandits are not around.

Schools in those communities do not function because teachers have abandoned them. Likewise, PHCs do not function.

Everything is controlled by the kidnappers. Sometimes they pick people from the community and shoot them to show what will happen to anyone who disobeys them.

This is just a summary of the chilling things this man said.

There are more than 20 communities in Kajuru LGA, about 30 in Kachia LGA, and dozens in Chikun LGA that have entered into such agreements with these kidnappers and are living under harsh conditions. Though the conditions vary, but most have no freedom at all.

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