How residents of 2 Zamfara LGAs blocked highway over killings

Series of protests have rocked Kaura Namoda and Zurmi axis in Zamfara State since Friday over the spate of killings in the two local government areas of the state.

Series of protests have rocked Kaura Namoda and Zurmi axis in Zamfara State since Friday over the spate of killings in the two local government areas of the state.

The protests are being propelled by the sharp spike in the activities of bandits as dozens of communities have been sacked and hundreds of people displaced by the incessant attacks being perpetrated by the armed criminals.

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The residents decried how the armed men were having a field day in their communities without any intervention from security operatives.

A protester, Ali Sani, said, “The way the criminals are raiding our villages is horrible. Hardly a day passes by without an attack on a village. Our food stores and houses have been burnt to ashes. We have no means of survival.

“We are totally under siege. No one can go to farm as this year’s planting season is fast approaching. Our people are abandoning their communities to take refuge in relatively safer places. We are in a very serious trouble as a people.”

Another protester, Ashiru Mashala, said he decided to join his fellow countrymen in the protest to show the authorities how frustrated they had become over the wave of attacks hitting their communities daily.

Mashala said, “There are communities that were raided for three consecutive days. No security operatives to put a stop to these heinous crimes. We have been abandoned to our fate. If you look at our faces you will discover hopelessness, despair and frustration.”

Last Monday, the residents blocked the 60km Gusau-Kaura Namoda Road and set bonfires.

The protesters took the corpses of their loved ones killed by the armed men to the palace of the Emir of Zurmi, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.

A resident, Mustafa, said, “We headed to the emir’s palace to register our anger. However, the emir did not attend to us. We then set bonfires before we left. We withdrew and then regrouped on the Gusau-Jibia road.”

However, the spokesman of the state’s police command, SP Muhammad Shehu, said they had deployed tactical operatives to Zurmi LGA as part of the move to stop the incessant attacks on communities.

He said the command under the leadership of CP Hussaini Rabiu had embarked on indefinite show of force and confidence building patrol to all the strategic areas of the state.