Residents of nine Zamfara communities have received a letter from bandits operating in Gando forest in Bukkuyum local government area of Zamfara State.
Premium Times reported that the terrorists in the letter which has been authenticated by a source at the palace of Bunun Zugu, district head of Zugu in Bukkuyum local government area, told residents of the communities to pay their levies or face deadly attacks.
The letters were written in Hausa language and addressed to the different communities. Each of the letters has the name of the community on the top and the money it is expected to pay. There are also mobile phone numbers on the letters.
All the letters bore the same contents except the title of the town and the amount the bandits are seeking. One of the letters read;
“Yargalma. N5,000,000. From Dogon Sabi na Auwali Wanzam. You people should reach out to us for peace. Come and pay us money or vacate your town. Respect this and live in peace.”
Zugu district has five communities taxed as follows: Wawan Iccen Ibrahim N4,000,000, Wawan Iccen Salihu N1,000,000, Gaude N1,000,000, Galle N1,000,000 and Tungar Gebe N500,000.
In Gado district, the two communities levied are Nannarki and Ruwan Kura N5,000,000 each.
Adabka district head has one community Gangara which is levied N1.5 million. Zarummai district also has one community which is Yar Galma N5,000,000.
The source at the palace of Bunun Zugu, said the monarch had reached out to the Emir of Bukkuyum on the issue.
The source said;
“His Royal Highness has been discussing the issue with the District Head and other heads of the remaining districts.
“Some of our people were kidnapped by bandits in November last year and after payment of ransom, they released them and sent them with the letters for delivery to the district head”
A youth leader, Abubakar Gero, who is the coordinator of Zamfara Circle in the area, said the letters were given to some kidnapped residents of Kyaram village under Zugu.
Gero disclosed that residents of the affected communities have started gathering the money to avoid attacks.
He said;
“After payment of ransom by relatives of the captives, they asked them to go with the nine different letters and present them to Bunun Zugu who was also instructed to forward it to the remaining heads.”
