By Ismail Auwal
Not fewer than five villages are reportedly under the control of bandits in Katsina State.
The villages were identified as Bakkai, Bebeni Dakamawa, Unguwar Dankali, Marafa and Yar Tsintsiya all in the state.
According to FIJ, the residents of affected communities fled to Mabbai, a transit shelter for displaced people in Kankara Local Government Area.
The Paper reported that, the bandits took over following a series of brutal attacks on residents. Some displaced residents had narrated how the bandits have killed villagers and raped some before taking over affairs in the communities.
“They wanted to shoot him and I pleaded with the bandits,” said Zainab about the man who had accompanied her. “They said they would hit him with a dagger and I pleaded with them again. They wanted to shoot him; I begged and pleaded with the bandits.”
Zainab had stayed in Mabbai alongside other displaced persons from several villages sacked by the bandits before deciding to return home to get some food for her children. Bandits, however, intercepted her and collected the food items.
“The bandits collected the food. They are policing our affairs and have taken control of our villages. They are the authorities now; they dictate our affairs,” she continued, shedding tears.
“How can small boys be treating elderly men like that? They abused him and asked him to go back. It happened just now.”
Gaje, another Bakkai resident, narrated the incident that led to the death of her husband, leaving her to single-handedly cater for 12 children.
“He wanted to run, but they shot him in the chest,” she said. “I was traumatized. I said to them: ‘You have ruined my life’. They said I had not seen anything. That was how they left me with the body of my dead husband. They killed about 8 people that day.”