Zamfara banditry: Protesting villagers drop corpse at govt house

Over 100 villagers from Jirrawa community in Kaura-Namoda Local Government Area of Zamfara, yesterday besieged the Government House, Gusau, with the body of a man alleged to have been killed by bandits earlier in the day in the village.

Spokespersons of the community, Muntari Abdullahi and Muhammadu Sani, told newsmen that the bandits invaded the village around 10am and shot sporadically in the air.

“We later realised that they had already killed Shafiu Inusa on his farm while he was trying to apply fertilizer on his plants after the rains of last night,” Abdullahi said.

He said the deceased was just recovering from a gunshot wound inflicted on him when the bandits attacked the village four months ago during which Shafiu’s father was murdered.

“It is exactly four months now since his (Shafiu’s) father was killed in a similar attack, because the wives of the old man are completing their four months stay at home as mandated by Islam.

“We gathered from his farm neighbour and brother that one of the bandits appeared before them, saying anyone who knows he is guilty should run and who is not should stay.

“Shafiu refused to run and when the others numbering over a hundred arrived, they opened fire and killed him instantly. These are his remains. We brought the corpse here for the governor to see and know that this peace initiative is not working for us,” he said.

On his part, Sani said: “these criminals have always passed by our village without any threat or harassment until the last few months.

“So far, they have attacked us more than eight times and have killed many people.

“Even while on our way to Gusau today, we received a phone call that they also killed one Bala Danrabi, a vigilante leader who has always fought the bandits.”

Confirming the incident, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Usman Nagogo, expressed shock over the attack, but said such occurrences were expected during conflicts resolution.

“I can confidently assure you that the peace initiative by Gov. Bello Matawalle which I lead in the state is working as can be seen in the release of kidnap victims and the repentance of several bandits, but that does not mean that the hardened criminals are no longer there. They are the ones that perpetrate this act.

“I am in constant contact with bandits groups in all the bushes and our discussions have been positive leading to the peace we are now enjoying.

“On this Jirrawa issue, I have spoken with my contacts around the area and the repentant bandits promised to meet tomorrow and fish out the perpetrators of this latest attack and hand the culprits over to me; this is in the spirit of the partnership we are now enjoying.” he said.

The CP however said that there would not be any fire power against the bandits for now because of the on-going peace initiative but that the command would await the outcome of the meeting to be held tomorrow by the repentant bandits.

(NAN)