The Senate, on Tuesday, was informed that bandits have taken over villages in Sokoto State, killing many and levying others for as high as N20 million.

The attention of the upper chamber was drawn to the incident by Senator Ibrahim Gobir through a point of order during the start of plenary.

He also informed the Senate of the killing of over 120 persons by the bandits at the Gorony Market in the state.

The Senate then held a minute silence to mourn the 120 Nigerians killed.

According to the lawmaker, the massacre of the victims by bandits occurred on Sunday.

Coming under Order 43 – Personal Explanation – of the Senate Rules, Gobir said: “On Sunday, October 17, Gorony Market was attacked and about 120 people killed.

“The terrorists came to the market and started shooting every person they saw.”

He further disclosed that the failure of the military to come to the rescue of the villagers has emboldened the terrorists to install their own representatives as village heads in some areas of Sabon-Girin Local Government.

“The terrorists are now installing their village heads in some areas of Sabin-Girin local government. In Gangara, they replaced the village head with Dan Bakkolo, the next in command to a known terrorist called Turji. In Makwaruwa, they installed Dan Karami (a terrorist) as Maigari,” Senator Gobir said.

He disclosed that in seven villages within some local government areas of the state, residents are compelled by bandits to pay levies of between N1 million and N20 million.

Gobir named the affected villages to include Kwarangamba, Garki, Danadua, Katuma, Kurawa and Dama.

The lawmaker lamented that failure to meet the demand imposed by the bandits in the affected areas had led to the killing of the villagers.

Gobir expressed frustration that in spite of consistent pleas to security agencies to come to the rescue of the affected communities, nothing had been done so far by the military and police to intervene in the plight of the people.

(Vanguard)

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