Kamarawa, Sabuwar Kamarawa and Gebe communities in Shinkafi local government area of Zamfara State have been forced to pay N3 million to a notorious banditry kingpin, popularly known as Dan Bokolo, to avoid reprisal attack.
Dan Bokolo is believed to be angry with residents of the communities for allegedly providing security operatives with the information used in the arrest of his brother, Abdullahi, the Premium Times revealed.
It was alleged that some members of the communities told security operatives of Abdullahi’s whereabouts which led to his arrest at a market in the area when he had gone to transact business.
The terrorist was planning to attack the communities when elders in the area decided to reach out to him for a peace deal.
After a series of negotiations, the terrorist kingpin agreed that the three villages should pay the fine of N6 million but later agreed on N3 million.
It was gathered that the communities have jointly raised the money the terrorists demanded.
However, the payment of the protection levy is against the stand of the governor of the state, Dauda Lawal, who maintained the state government would not dialogue with the terrorists.
Reacting to the development, the Senior Special Assistant to Zamfara governor on broadcast and public affairs, Mustapha Jafaru, said the state government was not aware and was not a part of the agreement. “We’ve always maintained that we’ll not dialogue with terrorists in Zamfara State.”
Terrorists in the state and other areas especially in Sokoto and Katsina are fond of taxing residents of local communities.
