Bawan Daji attack: Yari orders security agents to kill criminals caught with firearms, as residents bury over 30

Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, on Friday, directed security agents to shoot and kill criminals caught carrying firearms in the state.
Yari gave the order in Anka when he visited the Emir to condole with the emirate over the killing of over 30 persons by gunmen in Bawan Daji village of Anka local government area of the state.
He said “this is an order from the president and from the governor of the state.”
According to him, “we cannot continue to watch criminals as a parallel government, doing what they want and carrying sophisticated firearms, maiming and killing innocent citizens in the state.”
The governor further directed for the disbandment of five communities and the removal of the village and district heads of the affected communities in the emirate with immediate effect as they were accused of harbouring bandits.
He said that any person or group found associating with bandits should also not be spared but treated as the firearms carriers and bandits.
Responding, the Emir of Anka, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad said “we need more security personnel who are also committed to carry out their responsibility effectively.
The emir reiterated that the people had no problem of herders/farmers clashes at the moment.
“What we are facing is banditry by trigger happy criminals who attack innocent rural dwellers and steal their cash and property, ” he said.
Bawan Daji village was attacked by bandits for two consecutive days, (last Tuesday and Wednesday) where they killed over 30 people.
Meanwhile, more than 30 persons were on Thursday buried, following gunmen attack on the village.
The bandits attacked the area after some members of the community held a meeting to discuss measures to be taken against the bandits during the 2018 farming season.
The bandits had earlier threatened that there would be no farming activities in the area in this year’s rainy season.
Liman Umar, one of the community leaders and the deputy Imam of the village, told newsmen that the bandits had been harassing people in the area, brandishing sophisticated weapons without talking to anyone.
“It was shortly after our local vigilante members held the meeting on Tuesday that the bandits finally struck and killed only men including those who tried to escape,” Umar said
He said many bodies were found decomposing in the bushes, and that some of the corpses could not be brought into the village for proper burial because people were afraid to go and get them as the bandits were believed to be hiding on the outskirts of the village.
He said one of the villagers, Danladi Shabalai, who was caught communicating with the bandits, was shot and killed by security men.
The Chairman of Anka Local Government, Alhaji Mustapha Gado, confirmed that 32 persons were buried including a woman and her child who died at a hospital in Gusau.
Gado said more bodies were still being searched for in the bushes and that security measures had been stepped up in the area, but that the villagers had all ran away out of fear that the bandits might return.
The Emir of Anka, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad, who is also the Chairman of the state’s Council of Chiefs, lamented that the horrific incidences of bandits’ attacks had continued unabated in the area due to inadequate security.