![]() ![]() The Nigerian military has launched multiple operations against banditry and terrorism. In 2021 alone, the bandits killed more than 2, 600 civilians – an increase of over 250 per cent from 2020 – according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). Thousands of bandits in the regions ride on motorcycles – sometimes manning Hilux vehicles – to invade towns and villages in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, Niger, Kaduna and recently Kebbi states. The terror groups are notorious for wielding high-calibre weapons, including AK-47s and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) - most times unchecked by the Nigerian police and armed forces. Locally known as bandits, the organised criminal gangs are terrorising Nigeria’s rural northwest and central states, brazenly maiming, killing, kidnapping and displacing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. The punishment for failing to abide by the biddings of the bandits is a coordinated mass abduction or murder. They can work on their farm fields and live in peace provided they pay sumptuous levies to fund terrorist activities of their oppressors. In the rural areas of Zamfara, villagers, primarily farmers, have sealed accords with the terrorists. They threatened to kill us all if we failed to pay.” “This year, they asked us to pay another N250,000 but they themselves knew we can’t afford it because we are a small, poor village,” Mr Ibrahim told PREMIUM TIMES. Since 2020, the community has paid millions to the bandits, locals said. Enveloped with fear, he delivered the cash to them - a second tranche payment of the protection levy imposed on his small community. Arriving at Mashema, a deep forest housing the terrorists near the Niger Republic, he bowed his head, buried the money bag in his armpit and stomped into their enclave. One dry afternoon in November 2021, the 35-year-old wrapped N300,000 cash in a black polythene bag, sped up his motorcycle as he headed towards the coven of armed bandits. When asked to describe his experience, he frowned his face and scanned around to be sure no one was eavesdropping. His eyes were tinged with blood, a result of battering and cries after he dared to look terrorists in the face in an encounter. Staring at the cloudy sky above the slumbering Rimni hamlet in the Zurmi area of Zamfara State, Haruna Ibrahim sat on stone rubble. ![]()
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