Two notorious bandits in Shinkafi Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara State, Dullu and Dan Maigari, have been eliminated during an attack on their base by another terrorist, Mohammed Bello Turji Kachalla.
POLITICS NIGERIA learned that the duo were gunned down alongside at least 15 others terrorists on Tuesday.
The clash was described as the bloodiest encounter between the rival groups of bandits.
The latest clash followed the killing of a member of Turji’s gang, Na-Sanda.
Na-Sanda’s killing enraged Turji, who mobilised fighters loyal to him to launch a surprise attack at the Maniya hideouts of the rival gang where they killed some of the gang’s members including Dullu and Dan Maigari. Dan Maigari is a younger brother of Bashari Maniya – a bandit turned intermediary.
Banditry is a serious challenge not just to the Nigerian federal government, but also the state governments in the northern axis.
Uprisings around Shinkafi escalated after the Zamfara State government’s announcement of “containment measures” in early September 2021, which placed ban on weekly markets, sale of petrol in jerry cans, cutting off of telecommunication networks, among other sanctions, targeted at suppressing the activities of the bandits.
It was cheery news as the locals and some observers believed the ban would curtail the activities of the dreaded gunmen, especially with a promised revamped military operation in tow.
This buoyed residents to begin their own actions, including reviving the Yan Sakai volunteer force, to help in smoking out the bandits and made it impossible for the bandits and other Fulani persons to access the markets and other common services. The bloodthirsty gunmen saw it as a dare and they replied, as usual, with more than reciprocal rage.