Peace is gradually returning to some bandit-controlled communities in Zamfara State as gang leaders holding sway in such areas have entered into peace accords with the locals.
The “ceasefire deal” is being implemented by four of the most wanted bandit kingpins: Ado Alero in Zamfara Central, Bello Turji and Dankarami who share the Northern zone, and Dogo Gide who occupies the Western zone.
LEADERSHIP Weekend gathered that over 100 villages were previously occupied by bandits across the state. Each of the notorious kingpins from the three senatorial zones, who are indigenes, made themselves ‘kings’ of the areas and applied their laws on the villagers as they pleased.
The villagers told our correspondent that apart from the 30 bandit camps across Zamfara, the four bandit leaders are in complete control of the occupied territories in the three senatorial zones.
The villagers, however, said that while some communities live in harmony with the bandits, others in places controlled by their rival groups are still subjected to hardships and heavy taxation.
Residents of the western part of Tsafe under the Ado Alero, Dogo Gide from Dansadau area in Maru local government and Bello Turji from Shikafi local government areas said they are living in peace and harmony with the bandits.
According to them, at the commencement of the current farming season, Dogo Gide directed all the villagers under his “jurisdiction” to feel free to cultivate their crops.
According to a source, several farmlands that had not been cultivated for seven to eight years are now being farmed.
A resident of Dansadau town, Alhaji Ibrahim Dansadau, where Dogo Gide is in charge, said that when the bandit leader announced his intention to allow the people to go to their farms, many villagers thought it was a trap.
He said they took Gide seriously when he warned his followers not to touch or harass any indigenous farmer under his territory.
Alhaji Dansadau said there had been no report of bandits attacking or harassing the people since the beginning of the rainy season.
He stressed that the “people of Dansadau, Dangulbi, Dankurmi and other smaller villages that were not cultivating their farms are now doing so.”
With the development, the villagers believe God had answered their prayers for the state to be in peace and that farmers would have a bumper harvest this year.
Similarly, most villages in Tsafe local government area, the villagers and their Fulani counterparts live in harmony due to the efforts of a bandit leader Ado Alero, an indigene of Hayin Alhaji village.
Alero reportedly ordered them to live in peace with one another and also warned his followers not to molest anyone.
A resident of Hayin Alhaji, Mallam Sani, told LEADERSHIP Weekend on the phone that “we are living in good terms with bandits in the area under the leadership of Ado Alero.
“We live together as brothers because they are indigenous people of the area, and Alero, an indigene of the community, committed himself to ensuring peace among people in the area.”
He said for the safety of the people, Alero even ensured that he and his men protected them from “enemies” who wanted to attack them.
Sani recalled there was an attempt by bandits from Katsina State to kidnap and kill residents of Hayin Alhaji, but Alero, who knows the notorious bandit leader, intervened and overpowered them.
He said, “I had lost hope that I would survive because the whole village was surrounded by the Katsina bandits who came in over 20 motorcycles. When they entered our community, they were shouting and using abusive words on Ado Alero and made known their intention to kill him and his men and kidnap the people of the community,” he said.
Sani added that a heavy fight ensued between the two rival groups, and in the end scores of bandits from Katsina were killed, and others escaped with bullet wounds.
Another resident of Hayin Alhaji, Musa Hassan, also narrated that at the time the Katsina bandits arrived and surrounded the community, the residents were in panic without any hope of escaping, but luckily the Alero group overpowered the attackers and killed a majority of them while others escaped, leaving about 20 motorcycles behind.
“We thank God our community is living in peace and harmony with the bandits. They don’t harm us or cheat us. Likewise, we respect one another. We don’t have any problem with them; we go to the farm together and work as labourers,” Musa Hassan said.
Alhaji Nasiru Galadi from Shinkafi local government area of Zamfara North, where Bello Turji comes from, told LEADERSHIP Weekend on the phone that all the villages in Shinkafi are living in harmony with the bandit group, unlike some months or years back when the area was terrorised by bandits under Turji.
He said Turji had become a hero as he always protects his people and the entire villagers in Shinkafi local government area from any harm or attack by other bandits.
Galadi said some months ago, Turji warned his boys not to kidnap or attack villages under his territory and that anybody who broke the order and was caught attacking or kidnapping people would be killed instantly.
He said after the warning, a group under his watch kidnapped some villagers, and when Bello Turji learned about it, he immediately arrested the leader of the group and killed him.
“We are now at peace with the bandits, and we haven’t had any trouble with them for almost a year. Since then, we have been living in peace; we travel out from Shinkafi town to Gusau, a 95-kilometre journey, at any time without facing or expecting any attack from bandits,” Galadi said.
11 Communities Still Under Bandits’ Exploitation
LEADERSHIP Weekend, however, gathered that 11 communities still suffer at the hands of rival bandits.
The communities which have levied about N200 million are Gidan Duwa, Dolen Kaura, Gidan Dan Zara, Kanwa, Kaiwa Lamb, Gidan Zagi, Jinkirawa, Babani, Ruguje, Dumfawa and ‘Yan Dolen Moriki
The villagers said they live like slaves because they are forced to work at the bandit leaders’ farms without being paid for their labour.
The residents claimed that they were also asked to pay levies before being allowed to farm in this year’s rainy season.
The most affected local government areas where villagers still face serious threats at the hands of bandits are Zurmi, Gusau, Maru, Maradun and the western part of the Tsafe council.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP Weekend on how they cope with the bandits, a resident of ‘Yan Do nlen Kaura in Zurmi local government area, Mallam Aminu, said most of the criminals impose different levies on every community in the area before they allow them to plant their crops.
According to him, about 10 villages in the affected councils in Kaura-Namoda and Zurmi local government areas paid the N15 million to N20 million levy imposed by the bandits before they were allowed to cultivate their land.
He listed the communities to include Gidan Duwa, Dolen Kaura, Gidan Dan Zara, Kanwa, Kaiwa Lamb, Gidan Zagi, Jinkirawa, Babani, Ruguje, Dumfawa and ‘Yan Dolen Moriki.
“In fact, this is how we live; the situation is making our lives miserable. They impose levies on us to pay before cultivating our farms, and at the end of harvesting also, they will either prevent us from harvesting the yields and if we attempt to challenge them, they will shoot at us.
“We appeal to the state and the federal governments to please come to our aid, so that we can enjoy the comfort of living like others in other parts of the state. We are tired of the current situation we have found ourselves,” Mallam Aminu lamented.
A resident of Gebawa in Gusau local government area, Abdullahi Shamsu, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that some of the bandits rape the wives and female children of the villagers.
He stated that a notorious bandit leader, Isah Na Shamuwa, and his followers have not allowed the villagers to know peace. He added that the bandit leader, who is an indigene of the locality, uses the villagers for farm labour without paying them, and if anyone tried to say something different, he would use his boys to “finish him.”
He named the affected villages as Rijiya, Gidan Hokki, Gebawa, Ruwan Bawa, Madaro, Sakkarawa and Bakin Dutse, all in Gusau local government area.
When contacted, some local government sole administrators, particularly those from the affected areas like Birnin Magaji, Maru, Shinkafi, Gusau, Tsafe and Kaura-Namoda councils, said they were doing their best to ensure that peace returns to their respective areas.
The affected local government sole administrators whose territories are surrounded by bandits include that of Kaura-Namoda, Hon. Kasimu Sani Kaura; Maru local government, Hon. Yusuf Sani; Birnin Magaji local government, Hon.Isiyaka Ibrahim; Maradun local government, Hon. Yahaya Al-Giwa, and Tsafe local government area, Hon Aliyu Adamu Barmo.
According to them, they are constantly in touch with the villagers, and efforts are being made to restore normalcy in places where the bandits are still threatening villagers.
The state police command’s public relations officer, ASP Yazeed Abubakar, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the command had taken adequate measures in Gusau and its environs to ensure peace returns to every nook and cranny of the state.
According to him, due to security measures taken in the state, reports of banditry activities have drastically reduced in some areas.
He added that the command had not received reported cases of banditry from the Dansadau area and its surroundings for several months.
Genesis Of The Crisis
For several decades, Zamfara State was known to be one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria and its indigenous people, Hausa and Fulani, lived in peace and harmony.
Findings showed that the cordial relationship between the two tribes continued until 2009 when accusations and counter-accusations on various issues began to emanate and eventually resulted in a lack of trust.
The relationship between the Fulani and their Hausa neighbours later turned sour when the Fulani realised that the local vigilantes and Yan Sakai militiamen were targeting and killing their innocent kinsmen in the markets and other places they met them.
Notably, the first bandits’ group emerged in Zamfara in 2011 when they focused on cattle rustling and armed robbery, and the local vigilantes drew the battle line in response to the activities of the cattle rustling gang and the killing of innocent people at random.
From then on, the villagers had no peace because they were overpowered by the bandits who drove them, mostly women and children, out of their ancestral homes to become displaced persons.
