In the Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State, kidnappers have targeted the communities of Mutumji, Sabongari Mahuta, Kwanar Dutsi, and Unguwar Kawo for failing to pay taxes.
HEALTHYSPOT101 has learned that the bandits’ terrorizing of the towns began when the residents refused to pay the taxes imposed on them.
A villager from Mutumji, Alhaji Muhammad Usman informed DAILY POST that the bandits assaulted the settlement at about 8 pm and started firing intermittently, forcing inhabitants to scamper for safety.
The villager claimed that Damina, the leader of the local bandits, had threatened the villagers with dire repercussions unless they paid the N110 million in harvesting taxes he had imposed on them.
“Our community was hit with a N50m levy, while Kwanar Dutsi paid N30m, Sabongari Mahuta paid N20m, and Unguwar Kawo paid N10m,” he continued.
According to another local source, the communities in the vicinity began raising the funds shortly after the Friday night terrorist attack.
The spokesman of the State’s Police command could not be reached as of the time of reporting this article.
Some residents from the nearby Ruwandoruwa settlement had been kidnapped a week prior to this occurrence.
One Divisional Police Officer and several other law enforcement personnel were killed by the bandits earlier this year in Maru town, also in the same Local Government Area of the State.
