Youths in Gwashi community, Bukkuyum Local Government Area of Zamfara State
chased away the state’s Deputy Governor, Mani Malam Mummuni, and his entourage during a visit to commiserate with residents over recent bandit attacks.
The incident occurred on Sunday as the deputy governor visited the community to sympathise with victims of the attacks and provide assistance to those affected by the violence.
The youths, angered by persistent insecurity in Gwashi and neighbouring communities confronted the deputy governor and his entourage to express their frustration over repeated attacks by armed bandits.
As tensions escalated, security personnel attached to the deputy governor reportedly fled the scene, leaving their vehicle behind, according to a video of the incident.
Gwashi and other communities in Bukkuyum Local Government Area have suffered repeated attacks, with residents facing serious security challenges while travelling between communities and accessing local markets.
The latest confrontation comes days after reports emerged that gunmen killed about 20 people in an ambush on a convoy of traders travelling under military escort in Zamfara State.
According to reports, the traders were travelling from Gwashi to Nasarawa Market in Bukkuyum Local Government Area on Saturday, October 10, when armed men attacked them at about 2 p.m.
In the attack, four soldiers, three police officers and an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were among those killed in the attack, alongside 12 civilians.
A military source also reportedly disclosed that 19 people sustained injuries during the ambush.
The violence has also affected other parts of Zamfara State, with suspected bandits previously abducting Islamic clerics and students in separate incidents.
In a reported attack about a month earlier, six Islamic clerics were abducted along the Dakko-Damri feeder road in Bakura Local Government Area while travelling to Talata Mafara.
The state police spokesperson, Yazid Abubakar, said the clerics were intercepted by armed bandits who abducted all six victims, identified as imams.
In another incident in June, suspected bandits abducted seven students of the Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, during an attack on their residence in the town.
