CITIZENS COMPASS— Suspected bandits have demanded N10 million levy from residents of Mai Tukunya in Zamfara State.
The suspected bandits also demanded an AK-47 rifle, and three motorcycles, a situation that has made many of the residents to flee their homes out of panic.
The demand was said to be one of the conditions to stay under the protection of the bandits without being exposed to attacks.
According to a security analyst, Bakatsine, a resident explained the impact of the demand on families who have lived under continuous threats for over a decade.
“For a population that has spent over a decade struggling under constant threats, the demand was not only unrealistic but devastating,” the security expert said.
Entire families, including children and the elderly, have reportedly begun a journey of displacement, walking under the harsh sun with little certainty about their destination.
Many families had already been pushed into poverty by years of violence. Farms had become unsafe, businesses collapsed and livelihoods disappeared. The wealth they once had slowly faded into hardship, leaving behind hunger, fear and uncertainty.”
The same resident described the daily risks faced by the community before the ultimatum.
“Life in the community had become a daily gamble with death. At any moment, armed men could storm into homes, subjecting women and girls to sexual violence,” the report said.
“Men risked being killed or abducted simply for traveling to markets or tending their farms. Parents sent their children to school with the constant fear that they might never return.”
