AT least 150 people, including 20 young girls and women, have been abducted by bandits in a series of attacks on several communities in Zamfara State over the past four days.
Residents of the affected communities confirmed the figures to journalists noting that heavily armed bandits launched attacks at night or during rainfall over a four-day period in several villages, including Moriki, Sabon Garin Damri, Dakko Butsa, Tungar Abdu Dogo, Tungar Sarkin Daji, Sadeda, and Tungar Labi.The 20 young girls and women were abducted in a fresh attack on Moriki town in Zurmi Local Government Area.
A resident of Moriki, Sufyanu Moriki, told journalists that the victims were abducted on Saturday while they were out gathering firewood on the outskirts of the town.
“The abduction actually happened on Saturday. They went out to fetch firewood at the outskirts of the town when they were kidnapped by the armed group. They are yet to contact anyone to demand ransom,” Moriki said.
Similarly, the spokesperson for the Zamfara State Government, Mahmud Mohammed Dantawasa, confirmed the series of attacks but did not confirm or deny the number of people kidnapped, stating only that the government was working to rescue the victims.
The ICIR reported last month that 33 kidnapped victims of Banga village in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area of the state were allegedly forced by their abductors to kill one another, after their relations had paid ransoms on them.
The victims were among the 50 people, mostly women and children, abducted in February by a suspected notorious bandit, Bello Dansadiya, and his team during a raid, where three pregnant women delivered and all the babies died there.
Despite allegedly receiving N50 million ransom, paid in instalments, Dansadiya refused to release all the abductees, ignoring repeated pleas from their relatives.
Responding to the latest abduction, the Zamfara Police Command’s spokesperson, Yazid Abubakar, said he had yet to receive information about the abduction but promised to provide details once he is briefed on the incident.
The ICIR reports that organised armed gangs began to emerge in North-West Nigeria from 2011, where bandits levy taxes on farmers, rustle cattle and kidnapping became lucrative business.
The recent rise of the Lakurawa jihadist group in the region has further escalated violence in the region.
Many communities across the Zamfara State 14 LGAs have been displaced, with residents of Maru, Anka, Shinkafi, Maradun, Zurmi, Gusau, and Bungudu LGAs being the worst hit.
A member of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Aminu Ibrahim, representing Kaura Namoda State Constituency, was arrested last year over alleged involvement in banditry and kidnapping in the state.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.