By Attah Ede
A notorious bandit leader identified as Jammo has abducted 50 villagers in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State after luring them into a peace meeting and demanded for N24 million as ransom.
The victims were part of a self-constituted dialogue committee sent by local communities to negotiate an end to hostilities in the area.
The chairman of Maradun Local Government, Bello Dosara, confirmed this to Journalists in Gusau on Monday.
He explained that the villagers took the decision to meet with the forest kingpin without obtaining clearance from the local council or state government.
“We are against reconciliation with the bandits and Governor Dauda Lawal never supported that, but unknown to us the people chose to go on with it.
“The local government had consistently provided weekly security escorts to help the villagers safely access and return from the local market after Jammo blocked their primary supply routes”, he said.
Following the mass abduction, the bandit leader released 11 elderly members of the delegation to deliver a message to the community, while the remaining 39 individuals are still being held hostage in the forest.
The Councilor representing the Magami/Faru ward, Bello Husseini, also speaking, revealed that the relationship between the community and the gang deteriorated after the state’s security outfit, the Askarawa, killed two of Jammo’s lieutenants and seized their rifles.
“In a reprisal attack during the last fasting period, the bandits killed two security personnel and took their weapons.
“You see we are one to one, they killed two of us and took away their rifles and we also killed them and possessed their firearms initially,” Husseini said.
Husseini explained that Jammo initiated the call for a truce after losing another operative in a recent military strike at Kandare village, a gesture the desperate community accepted against official state policy.
According to him, upon their arrival in the Muntsira forest for the meeting, Jammo betrayed the 50-man delegation, held them hostage, and is now demanding a sum of N24 million as a condition to release the captives and return the three seized firearms.
The councilor, who has since fled his ward due to the threat level, reiterated that the criminal group cannot be trusted and called for a military intervention.
