Zamfara Banditry: Why we kill 50 people for every slain herdsman – Repentant Commander
A commander of bandits who recently renounced violence following peace talks in Zamfara State, Hassan Dantawaye in an interview with MAIHARAJI ALTINE revealed why they decided to kill 50 people for every slain herdsman in Zamfara.
Speaking on the reasons behind the security situation and conditions of the fulani herdsmen In Zamfara, Dantawaye said “We the Fulani have been facing serious challenges, both from the government and cattle rustlers, some of whom are our own people. I mean some bad eggs among us. Most of them are not even citizens of this country.
He also stated that “We faced serious harassment and intimidation from the security personnel and the vigilante group, a factor that further worsened the security situation in the state. The security agents, particularly the police, have been levying charges on our people.
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“They had been collecting money from us unnecessarily simply because both the government and society consider every Fulani man as a criminal. When the ban on the sale of cattle was imposed by the state government, the police took advantage of that to extort money from even genuine Fulani people who own animals, whenever they see them. This issue seriously aggravated the insecurity problems in the state.
The vigilante group and Yan Sakai have also contributed to the insecurity issue considering their negative attitude towards the Fulani people. These two groups have turned themselves into groups that are licensed to kill. They killed any Fulani man they perceived as a bandit or cattle rustler and the government did not take any serious action to stop the menace.
“Many of our people were killed by these people. After realising that the government was not ready to stop the killing of our people by these two groups, we decided to pay back with reprisals. From that day, we decided to kill at least 50 people whenever one of us was killed.” Dantawaye added.
Source: Punch
