Bandits on killing, gang-raping spree in Zamfara

She pleaded with them not to touch her and promised to give them money instead. She gave them the N25,000 she had managed to save for her wedding. They collected the money and still went ahead to forcefully have carnal knowledge of her,” a Gusau resident called Aisha said about the traumatic experience faced by her sister.
In many areas in Zamfara State, bandits attack, rob, kill and gang-rape residents with abandon. Aisha is among over 1,000 villagers taking refuge in Damba Primary School in a suburb in Gusau, the state capital, after being displaced by the current of wave of violence gripping a number of the state’s communities.
Married women and young, single women are terrified out of their wits. “So many women have been raped and robbed. They carry out the acts in the presence of husbands, while those who are yet to marry are given the same treatment in the presence of their parents,” Aisha said tearfully.
Aisha told of a housewife who was gang-raped. When she tried to resist, they hit her head with a gun butt and shot her husband’s knees. “She passed out but they still went ahead to violate her,” she added.
Another housewife, Saadiya, at the Damba internally displaced people’s (IDPs) camp said if a woman refuses the robbers, they would find a way of making her succumb. “The reason why I’m telling you this is that I know of a woman who was brutally assaulted by these bandits and is going through the psychological trauma for daring to resist them. What they did was to lay her down and force sticks and flashlight batteries into her private part, leaving her with physical and psychological injuries,” she said.
Weekly Trust learnt that there seems to be some kind of conspiracy between some residents and the bandits. “It is obvious that some residents are feeding the bandits with information on location of young, beautiful women and even which households have wealthy traders among the villagers,” another housewife noted. She added that: “When they raided a certain woman, they asked her about the money she collected for safe-keeping from people and when she attempted to deny it, they told her that she must produce the money because they know everything about her. How do they get to know about our affairs if they are not being supplied the information by the insiders living among us?”  
One Hajara told Weekly Trust that in a polygamous family, any wife who is most-loved by the husband would be identified and gang-raped by the bandits. She said it was apparent from such occurrences that insiders were furnishing the bandits with information.
A middle-aged man called Isyaka said the assailants have forced them to retreat to sugarcane and maize plantations. “When it is night, we would abandon our homes and resort to farms and they have dispossessed us of our livestock,” he lamented, adding that they also set residents’ grains and other food items before they flee.
The bandits have forced residents of at least 10 villages in Mada and Wonaka districts of Gusau local government area to flee. This week’s attacks are the latest in a series of deadly attacks on the farming and herding communities by bandits and cattle-rustlers believed to be hiding in the thick forests near the borders with Kaduna, Katsina and Zamfara states.
Last April, more than 150 people were killed in Yar’galadima village when dozens of unidentified gunmen laid siege on vigilantes holding a security meeting.
A resident, Malam Tasi’u Kanawa, said residents of Fegin Kanawa, Fegin Mahe, Wonaka, Tambalawa, Majiro, Kofa, Fura Girke, Kundamau, Koshiya, Ingwai and many other villages have since abandoned their communities following the attacks. He said 19 people were killed in Fura Girke, two in Ingwai, three in Lafiya and 12 in Bawo communities. He said more thousands have fled his village, adding that apart from robbing them, the bandits also rape their wives. “They raped about 10 women and one died in a certain village,” he said.
Another refugee, Zainab, told Weekly Trust that many women were raped by the bandits and some were taken to hospital, where some have even died.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Communications, Alhaji Sani Abdullahi Tsafe, said the affected villagers have fled their communities and are now taking shelter in Gusau and Tsafe local government areas, adding that Wonaka and Mada districts of Gusau local government were badly affected. “The state government is doing its best to restore law and order in these communities. Governor Abdulaziz Yari has also set up a committee to find ways of assisting the victims,” he said.
But when contacted, Zamfara State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Lawal Abdullahi, dismissed the reported attacks as rumours. “People are peddling rumours about impending attacks by bandits, which is why residents are fleeing. Some of them have started returning to their homes,” he noted. He said security has since been beefed up around the affected areas.