Bandits terrorizing Northwestern Nigeria
Breaking: Bandits depose 5 Sokoto village heads, impose new ones
Gunmen believed to be bandits have allegedly dethroned five village heads in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of Sokoto State and installed new ones.
Sources said that the gunmen had summoned the villagers to a meeting in Saturu village in Sabon Gari Local Government where they announced that they had deposed and replaced them with some bandit commanders as the new village heads.
The notorious leader of the bandits, called Turji was said to have announced the appointment of five of his loyal commanders namely: Ɗan Baƙƙwalo, Boka Tamisƙe, Hassan Ɗan Ƙwaro, Dogo and Jammu Baƙi as replacements for the deposed village heads.
The villagers of Gangara for instance were allegedly asked by the bandits to select who among the five commanders that they wanted as their new village head and they chose Baƙƙwalo.
Sources said that the new ruler Bakkwalo immediately handed down his riot act to the villagers, giving them conditions, which included no police, no military or members of a vigilante group in the village. Bakkwalo further ordered the villagers to be absolutely loyal and bring all disputes to him for settlement.
He also ordered the villagers to contribute and pay him the sum of 1.5 million naira and directed the immediate reopening of three Juma’at mosques and the resumption of activities of the weekly Gangara village market, both of which were earlier ordered closed down by Gov Aminu Tambuwal due to frequent attacks by bandits.
In Maƙwaruwa village, the bandit commander Boka Tamisƙe who announced himself as the new village leader at a meeting with them ordered the ousted village head to inform villagers that he (Sani) had been deposed and replaced by him, to which he complied.
Reports said that a total of 85 villages in Burƙusuma, in the Gatawa neighborhood, were charged 300,000 naira each for not growing enough food for the bandits to use. The gunmen also ordered the villagers to contribute the money and were an ultimatum to meet up or be dealt with by the gunmen.
When contacted, Sokoto State Police Command Spokesman, ASP Sanusi Abubakar, said that the command was unaware of such a development but would investigate and get back. He did not do so at the time of filing this report.
