Fresh violence hits Zamfara, 3 people beheaded as Ag. Gov. escapes death

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The acting governor of Zamfara State, who is also the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Honourable Sanusi Garba Rikiji, escaped death by the whiskers at the Tudun Kuya in Birnin Magaji Local Government Area of the state on Friday, following a mob attack on his convoy by Hausa youths said to be protesting compensation paid to families of three Fulani youths killed by vigilance groups in the village.

 Continue after the break.

The acting governor was said to have moved to douse tension by taking some compensation to families of the three Fulani youths killed by the vigilance groups. He was said to have presented the sum of N500,000 and 20 bags of grains to each of the families of the three youths killed by vigilance men.

However, crisis started when youths were said to have been mobilised by some forces who believed that the Fulani were being pampered.  It was learnt that some Hausa members of the community got infuriated that help was promptly coming to the Fulani, whereas many Hausa had suffered similar attacks in the past without assistance from the state government.

Two Fulani youths, whose names were given as Mohammed Sanni Danhajia and Tambai Haruna as well as one Ibrahim, who was said to have ridden the motorcycle that conveyed them, were said to have been beheaded in the village by the vigilance team which suspected them to be criminals.

Earlier reports had quoted a member of the community, Mallam Mohammad Audu as alleging that the deceased had been linked to series of the attacks  being carried out around the Birnin Magaji/Zumi forest.

“Before they attacked the village, the youths decide to strike first,” he said.

However, reports available to the security teams indicated that it was later discovered that slain Danhajia was the son of the Ardo of Sabon Birni, a nearby town, who was returning home after spending years learning the Holy Quran in Kano. He was said to have been accompanied by Haruna, while they chattered the motorcycle ridden by Ibrahim.

An interim report in the hands of the authorities noted that: “Unknown to the acting governor, some people who witnessed the presentation of gifts had passed information to the youths. They immediately mobilised and surrounded the palace of the village chief where the presentation was ongoing. They were also seen chanting war songs as they vowed that no dignitary would leave the place alive.

 “They were insinuating that the gesture was promptly dispatched because many Fulani were currently occupying sensitive government positions in the state.”

 Condemning the killing, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Lawal Abdullahi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said it was necessary for the youths of the area to know that anyone that took law into his own hands would face the full wrath of the law.
In another development, two Fulani herdsmen were  shot dead by a vigilance group in Lapai, headquarters’ of Lapai Local Government Area of the Niger State over an arguments  between them and a photographer.
Sunday Tribune findings revealed that the incident occurred on Friday evening when the vigilance men intervened in the altercation, upon invitation by the photographer.

It was learnt that the Fulani men resisted the intervention of the vigilante group, a development that led the vigilante men shooting them.  Confirming the development, the state PPRO, Mr Richard Oguche, stated that a body was found in the bush after the incident, while one of the three people who sustained gunshot injuries died yesterday morning on the way to the hospital.

Nigerian Tribune