Bandits Strike Again In Zamfara, Abduct Over 20 Women

A group of bandits delivered another suffocating blow on residents of 15 villages early on Sunday morning, kidnapping over 20 women within the neighbourhood of Gusau, the Zamfara state capital.

A BBC Hausa report quoted some locals in Geba and Gidan Kaura as well as surrounding communities in the Gusau Local Government Area, as claiming that the bandits left their villages in ruins after the deadly attack.

According to the BBC report, in the wake of their invasion, the bandits not only killed some people, especially the men but also destroyed properties worth several hundreds of thousands of Naira.

The reports, which stated that ”the bandits kidnapped women and girls, took them away,” further quoted one of the locals as saying; “The bandits kidnapped 10 women in Kura, at Bayauri they kidnapped nine (9). They also entered a village called Gana and kidnapped seven (7) before proceeding to Duma where they abducted another seven (7). These happened before Sunday morning.”

It was also reported that many of the villages have been deserted, with most of the villagers abandoning their communities and moving to Gusau, the state capital, a development confirmed by a local seen migrating to Gusau who volunteered that the situation has made most residents relocate to Damba community and its environs inside Gusau, the Zamfara state capital.

“Here, we have women, children, and the pregnant ones, but there is no food. If you see where they sleep in this cold as if there is no government,” a local residing in the Damba community also alleged.

However, confirming that the attack was in the Geba area, Zamfara State Commissioner of Information, Ibrahim Dosara, said shortly after the bandits attacked, security agents stormed the area to bring the situation under control.

“There are soldiers working in that zone, they went to Geba. They met 3 people injured, the soldiers dispersed the bandits”, Dosara said, adding that there was no truth in stories being peddled that the villages attacked were not visited by security agents on a rescue mission.

Zamfara is among the Northern states currently battling the menace of banditry, which has assumed a frightening dimension in states like Sokoto, Katsina, Kebbi and Kaduna among others.

Only last week, the bandits burnt over 20 passengers in a vehicle in Sokoto while another group issued an ultimatum to seven communities in Tsafe Local Government Area of the Zamfara state demanding a sum of N37 million as a ‘protection fee’ before Monday, December 27, 2021, or risk fresh attacks in their areas.

Listed as the threatened communities were Bawagauga, Hayin Uda, Ruguza, Dumuyu, Zigau, Mai-Rerai, and Gidan Kado with an insider hinting that the bandits took time to share the amount (N37 million) among the communities.

The source, who could not explain how the bandits arrived at the allocated figures for each community, had said that residents in Bawagauga were to pay N13 million; Hayin Uda – N7 million; Gidan Kado – N6 million; and Mai-Rerai – N4 million; with the trio of Ruguza, Dumuyu and Zigau given N2 million each to settle. – With agency reports