Banditry: Residents pay N14m, canoe as protection levy in Zamfara

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By Ismail Auwal

Residents of 14 communities in Zamfara State’s Anka Local Government Area have paid N19 million and a boat in protection levies to the local bandits.

While corroborating the report on his personal Twitter account, journalist Yusuf Anka stated that residents of the communities had no choice but to contribute to the aforementioned sum in order to prevent terrorist attacks while working on their farms or even in their villages.

He claimed that many communities in Anka donated to the charge that is levied on the towns shortly before the rainy season begins in order to pay the terrorists’ protection levy.

He said the terrorists requested the protection levy to allow residents of the communities cultivate their land for the start of the planting season.

“The communities were all under Anka and have been asked to mobilise the money for protection. Some communities have paid theirs two months ago, others are just paying now. But the total paid have reached N19 million and a canoe,” said Mr told Premium Times.

He said the canoe was bought by Yar Sabaya community. Anka is surrounded by two rivers and other smaller bodies of water.

“The bandits asked the different communities to gather the money so that they (bandits) would allow them to work on their farms without attacks. This was not the first time they were asked to pay these levies,” Mr Anka added.

He said the villages who have paid up so far are: Jargaba N1.6m, Birnin doki N1m, Tangaram N1.5m (and later added the sum of N2.5m), Jarkuka N1.5m, Tuntuja N500,000, Tsafta N1m, Tudun magaji N2m, Kadaddaba N820,000, Tudun kudaku N950,000, Gargam N1m, Kwanar Maje N900,000, Yar tumaki N1m, Bawar Daji N1.7m, Tungar Liman N6m and Makakari N430,000.

A community leader in Anka who asked not to be named for security reasons, said they were aware of the protection levies imposed by the terrorists.

“Everyone in this town (Anka) knows that the bandits are exploiting innocent residents of local communities. They know how important the rainy season is to our people, so they would continue to ask them for such levies to allow them go to farms,” he said.

But he feared that the terrorists could still harm the residents especially during harvest.

“Protection levies is not the best option because they (terorrists) could still attack these people while they’re harvesting their farm produce and possibly ask for their share. But then, you can’t ask them (residents) not to give the terorrists what they’re asking since there is no alternative to that,” he said.

Zamfara State is one of the most terrorised states in Nigeria’s troubled North-west region.

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