To avoid being attacked, bandits asked five Zamfara villages to pay N20m

The bandit attacks in Zamfara has reportedly reached a level where communities have to pay-off the criminals to avoid being attacked.

A resident of the Aljimma village in the Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State, who spoke to The Punch in confidence, said that the bandits levied five villages in the area N20m.

He stated, “They would send a representative to our communities asking us to pay a certain amount of money running into millions of naira as a condition for living in peace. It has happened to our village and other neighbouring communities.

“Let me give you a breakdown of villages and the ransoms paid. They placed N10m ransom on Gora community, N5m on Faru village, N1.5m on Gidan Isah community, the people of Ilankwai village had to pay N2m while Gidan Baushe village was levied N2.5m . All the villages paid the levy but I’m not sure whether Gora people were able to meet the demand.

“I was part of the team that took the ransom put on our village to the bandits inside the forest. We had to mobilise ourselves by going from house to house to collect the money in order to meet the demand. Failure to do so would be very calamitous on us.”