The ongoing massacre in Zamfara state which seems to have defied all solutions, lingered on due to heavy involvement of politicians, security agents and traditional rulers benefitting from the blood spree, WikkiTimes can authoritatively reports.
Villagers directly affected by the crisis, members of vigilante and civil society groups have pointed accusing fingers on traditional rulers, some police officers and the state governor’s former aid on security matters for aiding and abetting the attacks.
Haruna Muhammed Salisu who visited four of the most affected local government areas in three senatorial zones suffering from the banditry reports on how communities are repeatedly being attacked by the bandits without any intervention despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation.
At about 6:30 in the morning when the weather was hazy, windy and freezing, In Nasarawa Godal Birnin Magaji LGA, women and children of different ages shivering and cracking their teeth began trooping into the town from surrounding villages through the eastern axis.
Numbering about 200, the women and children were fleeing in clusters from Garin Kaka, Garin Haladu, and Garin Dandambo which were all less than 10 km from Nasarawa Godal, the second biggest town in Birinin Magaji local government area.
Their villages were attacked the previous night, by armed bandits who have been terrorizing all the 14 LGAs of Zamfara state since 2011.
The striking part of these women and children’s ordeal is that, their return to Nasarawan Godal on December 26, 2018 was the 2nd in one week and the 10th in six weeks.
This reporter could see the confusion, fear and disturbance on their faces, as many of them were crying of hunger. Their children could be seeing crying and asking for food and water from their mothers, but unfortunately, the mothers could not help. 
This reporter bought and shared food to the fleeing women
Their husbands and young male children have either been killed overnight by the bandits or ran into the bush for safety. During the Christmas day attack, the bandits killed 23 people (all adult males) in the four villages ransacked.
While some of the returnees walk bare footed dragging their little kids and some domestic animals, others used cow cart to carry their younger ones and some little belongings they could pack in panic.
Among the returnees is Hauwa 38, whose christening ceremony of her new born baby was scheduled for Thursday 27th of December, but had to flee their village for Nasarawan Godal despite completing all the necessary preparations for the event.
Hauwa escaped the Christmas day attack with virtually nothing except the clothes she wore and the wrapper she used to back the baby girl. Unfortunately for the 5 day old baby, the mother could not even carry any clothe for her, let alone a cardigan to protect her from the scorching cold and strong breeze that characterized that morning. 
On arrival at Nasarawa Godal, Hauwa and her co-returnees move to the houses of their relatives and good Samaritans where they were taking temporary refuge before the go back to their villages when normalcy is restored.
This back and forth journey has always become a routine for these villagers and almost a common thing to their host communities, as there is currently not a single opened camp to accommodate them despite the frequency of attacks.
Across all the 14 LGAs of Zamfara state, villages have remained under constant and repeated attacks by these arm bandits who have killed over 3,000 people and destroyed countless number of communities.
Worst hit are Birnin Magaji, Maradun, Zurmi and Tsafe LGAs of the state where killings, kidnappings, demand for ransom, arson, cattle rustling and destruction of farmlands have become the order of the day.
Victims grapple with ransoms payment and killings of loved ones
The arm bandits during attacks on communities kill at will, rape innocent women, destroy properties and kidnap for ransom.
For instance, Sani Magaji (real name of the family and the village of the victim concealed for fear that the bandits may return and punish them for accepting to offer information to this Medium) has had two of their male children aged 15 and 13, kidnapped within a span of one month in 2018.
On the second incident, the arm bandits killed one of the elders of the family in their attempt to mount resistance having lost huge amount of money in ransom payment during the previous attack.
According to Magaji, the bandits stormed their village and started shooting sporadically. Amidst confusion, people ran helter-skelter in fear of either being killed or kidnapped by the bandits. Abubakar, his second son was not so lucky to escape with the rest of the family members; he falls prey into the hands of the bandits.
To secure his release, Magaji said the family had to part away with N1.7 million as ransom, which they raised by selling landed property including farmlands.
Six weeks later, the bandits returned to Magaji’s house during which they killed a key figure in the family and kidnapped the second child on whom they placed a N1.3 million ransom.
This time around, the family according to Magaji could not raise the requested money before the deadline given, as no one was willing to buy the landed property they put on sale in the town. On expiration of the deadline, the bandits killed the 13 year old boy, despite all pleas for them to extend the payment period.
Elsewhere in Tsafe local government, Mallam Adamu Asaula’ s wife spent 3 days in the hands of kidnappers during which they raped her severally before regaining freedom.
Her ordeal started when the bandits stormed their village of Asaula and took her away forcefully. They however did not request for ransom, indicating that they wanted to turn her into their wife.
Luck however came her way when vigilante members stormed the bandits’ hideout who ran for their lives and abandoned her in pains.
The kidnapped wife and the remaining family members now live in Government Girls’ Day Secondary School (GGDSS Focal) Tsafe, where they are taking refuge.
Their village, Asaula was ransacked by the bandits, and residents now fear going back, as the area is still unsafe for living.
Besides kidnappings, wanton killings and destruction of property, the bandits also rustle cattle and cart away with anything they deem valuable during their raid.
In Tsabre community of Birnin Magaji local government, bandits had in October, 2018 carted away over 200 cows as well as 400 goats and sheep in just one attack.
Gunshot victims
If the bandits were successful, 17 year old Sunusi Bawa would have lived a barren.
On Christmas day, the armed bandits attacked Sanusi, his brother Garba and their father while working on their potatoes farm at Garin Kaka.
Sanusi’s brother Garba 14, was however unlucky as the bandits’ bullet instantly killed him. Their father Mallam Bawa escaped unhurt.
Sanusi is currently being treated of gunshot wound on his private part (penis) at Amfani Medical Centre (a private clinic) in Nasarawan Godal.
The bullet pierced through the edge of his penis but peripherally, making him narrowly escape from being sterilized forcefully by the killer bandits.
Sanusi is not the only victim of such attack receiving treatment in the same hospital.
Shehu 42, and father of 16 children from three wives is also lying on hospital bed being treated of gunshot wounds in his stomach.
He was shot at by the bandits who attacked his village of Garin Haladu on the same Christmas day attack that affected three other communities.
As was the case with Sanusi, the bullet also pierced through the top layer of Shehu’s stomach by the right hand side.
Had the bullet penetrate deeper into Shehu’s stomach, it would have completely shattered his vital organs such as the liver, and by now he would have been a goner.
There is also Umaru 22, who escaped with a bullet wound on his left lap and is also undergoing treatment at the same Amfani Medical Centre.
Sanusi, Shehu and Umaru could be described as the luckiest on the day the armed bandits attacked their respective villages. On that day, the attackers killed a total of 23 people.
Earlier in the month of November, 2018, 4 people were taken to a hospital in Gusau for gunshots treatment from Gidan Gero village in Maradun Local Government Area. Gidan Gero, Falau, Magami and Ruwan Bado villages, also came under heavy fire by the armed bandits during which they killed 18 people.
In all these attacks, the victims and their relatives shoulder the responsibility of the treatment mostly in private health facilities, due to inadequate equipment, drugs and man power in public hospitals in their vicinities.
Humanitarian catastrophe spells doom in many communities
The conflict in Zamfara has caused severe havocs on the lives of people in different communities, disrupted economic activities, truncated children’s education and rendered thousands homeless.
The attacks have also increased the number of women headed households and orphaned countless number of children.
Documents obtained by WikkiTimes at the Centre for Community Excellence, (CENCEX), which tracks the number of people killed and properties destroyed revealed that about 3,000 persons have been killed in the last two years.
An estimated N1.2 billion paid as ransom to secure the release of persons kidnapped by the bandits. The document also highlighted that about 682 villages and towns were brought down and economic activities crippled—forcing people to flee and abandon their homes and property.
The records estimated that over 2,706 farms were destroyed by the bandits, 13,838 cattle and 11,088 sheep and goats were lost to the bandits.
