4 Sokoto farmers killed for ‘refusing to allow cattle feed on their crops’

Bandits have killed four farmers at Gatawa district in Sabon Birni Local Government of Sokoto State.

The bandits were said to have killed the farmers on their farmland.

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The leader of the vigilante group in Sabon Birni, Musa Muhammad (aka Blacky), told our reporter that the marauders attacked the farmers around 4:30pm on Wednesday.

“The people of the area thought they were abducted until this morning when their bodies were recovered,” he said.

The deceased were identified as Safiyanu Usman, Abdullahi, Ya’u Girmu and Ashiru Rilwan.

Another source said that the attack followed the refusal of the locals to sell their unharvested plants to them.

“They wanted to buy their plants for their animals and the locals refused to sell them to them.

“So they invited their people from other places. They came on motorcycles, encircled the farmers and killed them,” the source said.

However, the spokesman of the Sokoto Police Command, ASP Sanusi Abubakar, could not be reached for comment as his phone was switched off when our correspondent called his number.