Residents of various communities in Tsafe local government area of Zamfara State had staged a protest to demonstrate their anger over unending armed bandit activities in their domain.
A commuter who spoke with this medium said he was blocked from accessing Gusau town for close to five hours due to the refusal of the protesters to open the roads for the continued movement of the people.
He added that, he and many other stranded passengers had to resort to plying tricycles to reach Gusau after several hours of appeal to the protesters failed.
“Three of us had to pay the sum of (N1,500) each to Napep rider who conveyed us to Gusau”.
On the causes of the protest, the source explained that, “the people alleged that, bandits have been day-in-day-out terrorizing almost all the communities in Tsafe and that security forces are not available to confront the bandits and secure their respective towns and villages”.
He said, as at the time they were living, Tsafe town around 5:00pm the protesters were standing their ground that they would not vacate the highway till security forces can confront the bandits and secure their places.
No life was lost to the protest and the source said, travelers in their thousands were left stranded for hours and despite appeal by the security agencies, they refused to heed to the appeal.
“There were women, children and aged among the protesters and people from over fifteen communities were involved in the protest” the source added.
Zamfara State Police Spokes person SP Shehu Muhammad confirmed the development to BBC Hausa service and assured people of the area that the command is making effort toward enhancing and improving security.
