A FRESH wave of violence struck Sokoto State at the weekend as a gang linked to notorious bandit kingpin, Bello Turji, carried out a brutal assault on Bargaja village in Isa Local Government Area, killing five residents and abducting nine others mostly women.
News Point Nigeria reports that the attack, which happened in the early hours of Saturday, once again exposed the vulnerability of rural communities in the eastern part of the state, where Turji’s criminal network continues to operate with devastating impunity.
A member of the Community Guard Corps also sustained gunshot injuries during the raid.
According to residents, panic swept through the village as dozens of armed men stormed homes, firing indiscriminately before forcing several hostages onto their motorcycles and fleeing into the surrounding bush.
Hours before the attack, a local activist and security commentator, Basharu Altine Guyawa, had raised a public alarm about Turji’s movement. In a widely circulated post, he reported that the gang numbering more than 40 motorcycles was sighted traveling from the Fadanar Tursa and Dorawar Madugu forest axis toward Dan Huntuwa via Katutu Bridge, a critical route connecting Shinkafi in Zamfara State and Isa in Sokoto.
Guyawa accused authorities of complacency, saying the warning was not adequately acted upon despite the looming threat and intelligence shared with officials. He also alleged misuse of funds allocated for security operations in the area.
But the Chairman of Isa Local Government, Alhaji Sharehu Abubakar Kamarawa, dismissed the allegations of negligence.
He said the alert was received and immediate steps were taken, including mobilizing local security outfits and alerting relevant law enforcement agencies.
“Security personnel were deployed to the identified route,” the chairman explained. “However, intelligence later indicated that the bandits veered off to an alternative path, which led to the tragic incident.”
He confirmed that changes had been made in the security command structure in the area after a review uncovered lapses in coordination and rapid response.
“We are not sleeping on this matter. We support security agencies with logistics, fuel, operational allowances, and necessary equipment,” Kamarawa stated.
He expressed deep sympathy to the affected families and vowed that both local and state authorities remain committed to ending the menace of banditry.
The council boss also hailed Governor Ahmed Aliyu’s latest measures to strengthen security across vulnerable rural settlements, including the distribution of patrol vehicles and motorcycles to frontline security agencies and the reinstatement of monthly support allowances to personnel in the field.