By Sylvester Ugwuanyi
After about two months of relative peace in Zamfara State, unknown gunmen have reemerged in some villages of Gusau local government of the state, allegedly killing over 20 people and forcing hundreds to flee their villages and seek refuge in some neighbouring communities.
Eye witnesses informed that many villagers fled their villages after a coordinated attack on their respective communities by the gunmen at Damba Model Primary School last Sunday. Hundreds of dejected refugees including children besieged classroom blocks where they spent days in suspense, receiving emergency assistance from the state and local authorities.
One of the victims from Kungumau village under Mada district of Gusau local government, Maidawa Gimba, revealed that the gunmen have for long been terrorizing many villages, driving away many cows and robbing people of their money and other valuables.
According to him, a gang of hoodlums armed with heavy rifles recently besieged his village in a house-to-house assault, killing innocent people and “raping our daughters and wives’’.
He stated that, “most times when this happens, we are forced at gunpoint to watch the assault’’, and narrating the ordeal of an aged woman, he said they inserted dry cell battery into her private part which eventually led to her death.
“So terrifying was the sight of the arms they were carrying. There was a pregnant woman who had a miscarriage due to extreme fear and shock.’’
He regretted that all these occurred while security personnel were completely absent, “as there is no police post within the locality.”
He gave the communities that were attacked on the same day as Kofa, Kundubau, Wonaka, Fura Girke, Fegin Mahe, Gangara, Kukar Gandu, Kanawa, Lafiya, Gora and others from where many people fled to safer places.
Another resident, Waidawa Shehu said the gunmen killed 14 persons in Akuzo village, and 19 in Zamfarawar Girke where “I personally participated in the burial of 16 bodies”.
He noted that there are refugee camps in Yandoto, Shemori, Marke, Faskari, Bilbis, Unguwar Tsamiya, and Gusau, the capital city, while many fleeing victims took refuge outside the state.
A female refugee, Muhammadu Malama narrated that they had to flee their village following persistent threats by the Fulani gunmen who usually attack in broad daylight and rob the community of cattle and other belongings.
“We are being hunted; it is not only that our property are unsafe, but we are usually forced into sexual assault by the gunmen,” she narrated in tears.
She further said that their husbands could not spend nights in their matrimonial homes in the last few months owing to fear of attacks by the Fulani gunmen who often besiege the village in house-to-house attacks. Gunmen kill 20 in Zamfara villages in fresh attack
After about two months of graveyard peace in Zamfara State, unknown gunmen have reemerged in some villages of Gusau local government of the state, allegedly killing over 20 people and forcing hundreds to flee their villages and seek refuge in some neighbouring communities.
Eye witnesses informed that many villagers fled their villages after a coordinated attack on their respective communities by the gunmen at Damba Model Primary School last Sunday. Hundreds of dejected refugees including children besieged classroom blocks where they spent days in suspense, receiving emergency assistance from the state and local authorities.
One of the victims from Kungumau village under Mada district of Gusau local government, Maidawa Gimba, revealed that the gunmen have for long been terrorizing many villages, driving away many cows and robbing people of their money and other valuables.
According to him, a gang of hoodlums armed with heavy rifles recently besieged his village in a house-to-house assault, killing innocent people and “raping our daughters and wives’’.
He stated that, “most times when this happens, we are forced at gunpoint to watch the assault’’, and narrated the ordeal of an aged woman, they inserted dry cell battery into her private part which eventually led to her death.
“So terrifying was the sight of the arms they were carrying was that a pregnant woman had a miscarriage due to extreme fear and shock.’’
He regretted that all these occurred while security personnel were completely absent, “as there is no police post within the locality.”
He gave the communities that were attacked on the same day as Kofa, Kundubau, Wonaka, Fura Girke, Fegin Mahe, Gangara, Kukar Gandu, Kanawa, Lafiya, Gora and others from where many people fled to safer places.
Another resident, Waidawa Shehu said the gunmen killed 14 persons in Akuzo village, and 19 in Zamfarawar Girke where “I personally participated in the burial of 16 bodies”.
He noted that there are refugee camps in Yandoto, Shemori, Marke, Faskari, Bilbis, Unguwar Tsamiya, and Gusau, the capital city, while many fleeing victims took refuge outside the state.
A female refugee, Muhammadu Malama narrated that they had to flee their village following persistent threats by the Fulani gunmen who usually attacked in broad daylight and rob the community of cattle and other belongings.
“We are being hunted; it is not only that our properties are unsafe, but we are usually forced into sexual assault by the gunmen,” she narrated in tears.
She further said that their husbands could not spend nights in their matrimonial homes in the last few months owing to fear of attacks by the Fulani gunmen who often besiege the village in house-to-house attacks.