‘We’ve spent over N200m to tackle banditry’ — Zamfara community seeks government intervention

Residents of Nahuche community in Zamfara have asked the state government to intervene over the continuous attacks on the area by bandits.

Members of the community, on Sunday, marched in protest to the government house to seek the intervention of Bello Matawalle, governor of Zamfara, over the recent abduction of 13 residents of the area.

Musa Abdullahi, a member of the community, said they came to seek the government’s help to rescue the abductees, adding that the community has gone through so much in the past two years.

“We have suffered more than 13 attacks, lost more than 50 persons, and have so far, spent over N200 million in the last two years as ransom and for settling vigilante groups, but all to no avail,” Abdullahi said.

“The situation has remained the same, despite spending over N200 million on ransom and settling vigilantes.”

According to Abdullahi, five of the abductees were abducted 33 days ago, and the sum of N5 million was paid as demanded by the bandits but they declined to release the victims and made a fresh demand for two motorcycles.

“While working to meet the fresh demand of the motorcycles, the bandits, again, stormed the community and kidnapped another eight persons,” he added.

“They are yet to communicate or make another demand from the community. We are waiting.”

According to NAN, Abdullahi also said over 300,000 people have deserted Nahuche over the attacks.

“We have acknowledged the efforts of the state and federal governments in tackling the security challenges. However, Nahuche community needs urgent intervention to prevent the town from being deserted,” he said.

“We urge the federal and the state governments to deploy the military to the area to help the situation, before the bandits clear the villages.”