Zamfara residents take direct action against bandits lynching seven of them who visit emir's palace for talks

LOCAL people in Zamfara State have decided to take action in response to the constant terrorising of their communities by armed bandits as residents of Birnin Magaji Local Government Area cordoned off their emir’s palace and killed seven suspected hoodlums.

Over the last year, Zamfara State has been gripped in an orgy of violence as armed bandits have laid siege to the state, killing people with impunity. Despite the recent deployment of troops there, the menace, believed to be fuelled by the discovery of gold deposits in the state, has continued unabated.

Governor Abdulaziz Yari also offered to hold talks with the bandits and even agreed to purchase their weapons as part of a peace initiative. Earlier this week, a group of armed bandits agreed to attend a meeting at the emir’s palace for peace talks after their cows were confiscated following an airstrike on their base in Birnin Magaji forest.

Many of the bandits have been displaced by recent air strikes carried out by the Nigerian Air Force, with some of them reportedly returned to neighbouring communities still bearing their arms, causing fear among residents. After an airstrike on Birnin Magaji forest on April 4, many residents of nearby communities accompanied the soldiers into the forest where they found over 200 rustled cows.

Their cows were impounded and kept at the emir’s palace in Birnin Magaji and early last week, the cattle were taken to Gusau, the state capital. On Wednesday, about seven suspected bandits and a person suspected to be an official of the State Security Service (SSS) came to the emir’s palace to plead for the release of their cattle.

However, the Emir of Birnin Magaji, Husseini Dan-Ali, was said to be in Kaduna on when they came, so his secretary, Muhammadu Maiinji, hosted the  bandits and SSS official inside the palace. After residents learnt about the meeting, they hurriedly cordoned the palace and attempted to set it ablaze but soldiers guarding the palace pleaded with them.

However, the residents waited outside until the bandits came out and they lynched them and vandalised an SSS vehicle but the security official was rescued by soldiers after sustaining severe injuries. This is the first incidence of local people taking direct action against the bandits, who have terrorised them for months.