The leader who lost 150 people in his community to the attackers said the government are well informed about the identity of the attackers.
He said "The perpetrators are known," Alhaji
Amadu, village head of 'Yar Galadima, said. "The
government knows them. They know their
leaders like Buhari (not the ex-president), Kundu and Munjagara. They were arrested many times but released. They have established their dynasties where they rule like traditional title-holders. The government knows that, they should therefore deal with them." He said the number of victims has made him so jaded that he's not afraid to say the truth, no matter the
consequences.
Amadu said on the first day, they held funeral
prayers for 120 corpses. "But later, many others
were recovered from the bush. For now, we've
recovered over 150."
Amadu continued: "The attackers have stolen
hundreds of cows and over 500 sheep in this
village. We are appealing to the government for
help, because our lives in Zamfara depend on
farming. We, as traditional leaders, have no
relevance if our wards are migrating. Something
must be done urgently. I know I'm disclosing this fact at the risk of being killed or arrested by
government, but that is the truth."
Meanwhile since the various attacks by these
gunmen, residents are leaving in fear, while
activities have crippled in the state.
The brazenness of the gunmen has reached a
stage that they seem to be a parallel government, according to one resident who also said: "They can go to any village and slam a compulsory tax on them. For example, presently there is a village known as Zonee in Gusau local government where the gunmen imposed on them a tax of N80,000. They have been doing that for long.
They usually send a letter to any community and ask them to pay certain amount of money
ranging from N50,000 up to N500,000. If the
community fails, they would attack.
Therefore, how can anyone convince us that the
government is not aware of this? Even those of us who are not in government know where those people live. If we had the capacity, we would have confronted them to find a solution for ourselves."
Zamfara state over the past few weeks has been
under serious attacks and the state thrown
into mourning. It would be recalled that on April 3, two villages in the Zurmi Local Government Area of the state were attacked by gunmen who
killed 26 people , some days after the gunmen
carried out another dastardly act as they stormed a security meeting in Unguwar Galadima community area of the state, killing anyone in sight with the death toll hitting 200 .
The attacks have so far widowed over 300 women and orphaned over 500 children.
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