Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Gabriel Osa
In recent attacks in Zamfara State, armed bandits have escalated a pattern of violent extortion and coercion against rural communities, with residents of Totari village in Mada District, Gusau Local Government Area reporting that gunmen demanded a collective levy of around ₦10 million. Local sources say villagers who were unable to raise the sum were forcibly driven from their homes, and subsequent raids elsewhere in the district added to the fear and instability affecting the region.
Eyewitnesses in Totari reported that the levy was presented to families under threat of violence, a tactic increasingly used by armed groups in parts of north‑west Nigeria to extract money and control rural populations. Residents who could not pay were said to have been chased into surrounding bushland, abandoning homes, farmlands and property in the process. This form of extralegal extraction mirrors long‑standing patterns of bandit “taxation” and extortion documented across Zamfara, where criminal networks impose sums on entire communities, farmers or traders as a condition of forced “protection” and to permit access to fields and markets.
On the night following the levy demand in Totari, another attack struck Gyattawa village, also in Mada District, where bandits reportedly stormed the community, firing gunshots and causing residents to flee. At least one person was shot and is feared to have died, although official confirmation from security authorities has not yet been released. The absence of immediate verification from government or police means casualty figures remain provisional in the early stages of reporting, but local testimonies describe acute distress among families still displaced by the violence.
The pattern described by residents—multiple levies demanded over a single cropping cycle—reflects evolving economic motivations behind banditry in Zamfara. Prior to the last rainy season, several communities in the state allegedly paid millions of naira to armed groups to gain access to their farmlands; in some cases, farmers were later required to pay again to retrieve harvested crops. These extortion practices have been documented in wider parts of the state and neighbouring local government areas, where bandits leverage territorial control to supplement income from kidnapping, cattle rustling and other illicit activities.
In the absence of a sustained and visible security response, villagers often feel compelled to acquiesce to demands, fearing reprisal attacks that can include arson, abduction or murder. Security analysts have noted that in rural north‑west Nigeria, armed groups increasingly “tax” farming activity and impose levies on villages as cash flows from other sources such as livestock raiding and ransom become less predictable.
Residents of Mada District described the situation as dire. Many have been displaced into forested or remote areas with little food, shelter or basic services. The abandonment of homes and fields at a critical post‑harvest period not only threatens short‑term safety but also undermines livelihood security for farming households already struggling with economic vulnerability.
Local leaders and community representatives have lamented the limited presence of security forces in the area. Although there have been periodic patrols and operations by police and joint military units in parts of Zamfara State, the lack of a sustained, permanent deployment in rural districts like Mada has contributed to a sense of abandonment among residents. This gap enables criminal elements to assert influence, often with impunity, over daily life in villages where formal state authority is weak or intermittent.
Humanitarian advocates stress that such extortion not only inflicts immediate physical danger on civilians but also deep economic harm as farmers are prevented from cultivating or harvesting crops, sell produce under duress, or must divert scarce resources to satisfy demands instead of reinvesting in their farms. In some documented cases across the region, communities have had to pay bandits both before and after farming seasons—effectively taxing their productive activity twice in a single season.
State and federal authorities have yet to issue formal statements on the Totari and Gyattawa incidents specifically. Residents, however, continue to call for urgent intervention to protect lives, secure farmlands and restore freedom of movement. The combination of economic extortion and periodic violence underscores the complex challenges facing rural communities in Zamfara: a scenario not limited to isolated villages but part of broader insecurity affecting farming zones across the north‑west.
As investigations unfold and more detailed reporting becomes available, there is growing demand from civil society and local stakeholders for enhanced security measures, including the deployment of forces capable of sustained presence and rapid response in vulnerable districts. Without such action, observers warn, the cycle of extortion, displacement and fear is likely to persist, further eroding community resilience and heightening food insecurity in one of Nigeria’s most conflict‑affected states.
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