Bandits in Zamfara State have forced people in Tofa community in Magami district of Zamfara State’s Gusau Local Government Area to abandon their town.
They claim to have written multiple times to the state Commissioner for Internal Security and Internal Affairs, DIG Mamman Tsafe, requesting that security officers be deployed to the area, but to no avail.
Tofa is roughly 40 kilometers from Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, and is located along Dansadau, where banditry operations began more than a decade ago.
The residents of the community regretted that they had been subjected to major attacks by suspected bandits, which had caused them to flee the community and seek sanctuary in regions that were reasonably safe in the state.
“We are therefore appealing to both the Federal and Zamfara State Governments to deploy security operatives to the troubled community to enable residents who left their homes to return and carry out their farming activities as the rains are here.”
The villagers also cried out, claiming that they were facing hunger and starvation as a result of the ransom and levies paid to the bandits in order to liberate their kidnapped relatives and gain access to their farmlands to harvest their crops.
According to the residents, the bandits did not allow farmers to harvest in some farmlands, but they took over those farms once the whole ransom was paid.
According to some women from the village, “we are living at Tofa in Magami district and we have been praying for God to see us through but the situation is worsening by the day.
“The bandits have been entering houses to steal our money, they did not allow us to go to our farms and we cannot go fetch water. We have to leave our community to seek refuge in other safer communities but we returned because we do not have food to eat.
“We are hoping on God to bring a person who will proffer solutions to this problem. We are praying to God to help us with security, food, and clothing.”
All efforts to get reactions from the state’s Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs Retired DiG Mamman TSafe to speak on the state government’s plans to address the challenge proved abortive as he was not responding to telephone calls or text messages sent to him.
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