The Zamfara State indigenes under the auspices of Concerned Zamfara Indigenes, have said bandits had killed 143 persons in Shinkafi, Tsafe, Bakura, Kaura and Birnin Magaji Local Government Areas of the state in the last two months.

The group, in a statement issued to journalists yesterday signed by Sulaiman Tukur and Mustapha Kanoma, said the many villages in the state were under the control of the marauding bandits and were collecting tax from rural dwellers.

They explained that the security measures taken by the federal and state governments were causing more harm than good to the citizens “as prices of commodities have drastically increased with no significant decrease in the number and veracity of attacks by the bandits”.

The statement read in parts: “During the last two months, we have recorded about 143 persons confirmed killed, and this figure is only from Shinkafi, Tsafe, Bakura, Kaura and Birnin Magaji LGAs where we genuinely confirmed but we couldn’t confirm other attacks and killings because there are no networks.

“Some of our villages are under the control of the bandits and collecting tax from people. What will be the future of the state if something urgent is not done now? Federal government must find a lasting solution to these problems”.

The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari to exercise his power and take full responsibility of managing the security in the affected states by declaring full military operations.

“Please, direct the security forces to go and hunt these criminals from their hideouts, the dens of these beasts are known, their various camps in Zamfara are not out of sight. Let the military be offensive rather than defensive and not foiling or making reprisal attack”, the group added.