Sokoto Residents Storm Forests To Confront Bandits, Vow To Rescue 150 Abducted Victims, Recover Body Of Slain Traditional Ruler
The residents comprising men and women reportedly embarked on the mission aiming to rescue 150 kidnapped compatriots and to also recover the remains of the slain district head of Gobir, Isa Muhammad Bawa.
Thousands of residents of Gobir in Sokoto State have stormed the forests to confront bandits and rescue their abducted relations, citing the continuous failure of the security forces.
The residents comprising men and women reportedly embarked on the mission aiming to rescue 150 kidnapped compatriots and to also recover the remains of the slain district head of Gobir, Isa Muhammad Bawa.
SaharaReporters had on August 21, 2024 reported that the Sarkin Gobir of Gatawa District in Sokoto State, Alhaji Isa Muhammad Bawa has been brutally killed by bandits after being abducted, tortured, and dehumanised.
Few days after the traditional ruler’s gruesome murder, bandits reportedly attacked Gobir town and abducted over 150 mourners, according to Prof. Bello Bada of the Usman Dan Fodio University Sokoto.
The kidnapping cases were recorded between when the late emir was killed and Friday last week.
However the Nigerian police had denied the claim. “We’re not aware of the kidnapping of 150 people in the Gobir Emirate of Sokoto State,” the spokesperson for the Sokoto State Police Command, ASP Ahmed Rufai, said.
Nonetheless, thousands of residents of Gobir are seen in a viral video trooping into the forest chanting war songs, invoking the name of Allah.
“It’s fight to finish! Its either us or them (bandits), no going back,” they chanted.