Zamfara Communities Protest Over Killings

Hundreds of residents from various communities of Gusau local government area yesterday took to the streets of Gusau, the state capital, protesting over the killing of 100 people in a day and incessant kidnappings by bandits.

The protesters, who came on foot, motorcycles and vehicles, blocked the access roads, bringing movement to a standstill for over two hours.

They ended at the Government House and blocked the main entrance, chanting different songs.

They also carried placards with inscriptions such as, “We, the people of about 30 Communities of Gusau11 need peace and want to be rescued from bandits”, “Peace is our concern,” “We are being killed every day”, “End banditry in Mada, Lilo, Ruwan Bore, Fegin Baza, Bangi, others.”

The protester said bandits were terrorising, leading to the killing of about 100 people in a day in communities such as Mada, Ruwan Bore, Fegin Baza, Bangi, Wonaka, Fegin Mahe, Lilo, among others.
Some of the protesters said since the rainy season started, the bandits refused them farming, stressing that, “bandits attack communities day and night.

According to them, the bandits do not spare anything, including foodstuffs and other properties.
Many of them interviewed by LEADERSHIP complained of the government’s laxity in looking after the suffering of the communities in the hands of bandits, who they said are making a mess of their lives.
One of the protesters, Abubakar Abdullahi Fegin Mahe, who identified himself as Abubakar Abdullahi Fegin Mahe, told LEADERSHIP that as a businessman and a farmer, he had lost some of his family members and other relatives to the bandits.

Abubakar, therefore, called on Governor Dauda Lawal to rescue them from their predicament.
Responding to the protest, the chairman of the Gusau council, Hon Abubakar Iman, who was represented by his vice, Aminu Wakili Mada, said they were aware of ptheir plight.

He stressed that the government, in collaboration with the Gusau local government council, is making moves to save the situation of insecurity in the area.

According to the Vice Chairman, who hailed from the Communities area, the state government, in collaboration with security agencies, would move to the area and station security personnel along with APC to fully protect the communities from bandits’ attacks.