BANDITS operating in Zamfara now kidnap farmers in various communities in the state and make them to work as slaves, Sunday Tribune can exclusively report.
One of the affected farmers in Dansadau area of Maru Local Government Area of the state, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, narrated the ordeal he and his colleagues are facing at the hands of the bandits.
Despite claiming that the farmers in November of 2021 negotiated with the bandits to allow them go about their farming business and have access to their farms, the bandits, he said, have not ceased their attacks by abducting them to work as slaves.
Narrating how the bandits have turned most of the peasant farmers into slaves to Sunday Tribune he said, “they [bandits] will usually storm a village in a commando-style, kidnap the villagers and take to the farms owned by [leaders] of the bandits kingpins where they would be forced to work on the farm”.
Most of the times, he narrated further, “such victims would be kept in the farms for months to be serving the bandits,” owing to fears of what could befall their families.
On why the villagers often followed them by not putting up resistance, the farmer explained that there was nothing they could do.
“The peasants farmers have no option but to follow them, if they want to remain alive. For instance, recently, they stormed a village about 75 kilometres to the state capital along Dansadau – Gusau highway and one of the villagers refused to follow them because he was sick. The bandits were angry with him. One of them just pulled out his gun and shot the sick man. He told him go and rest.”
He further explained that the farmers had continued to pay the bandits for their protection, saying that was one of the reasons they negotiated with the bandits in November last year.
“Before then, sometimes the bandits would collect between N1m and N2m from the farmers for protection as well as to allow farmers access to their farms.
“Let me give you a typical example. I have a 10-hectare guinea corn farm from which I used to harvest 300 bags. But do you know that before the dialogue [negotiations] with them, I could hardly produce 60 bags,” he recounted, adding that other farmers had their own disturbing stories to tell.
According to him, it was as a result of their terrible ordeals that farmers in the local government decided to dialogue with the bandits on their own.
“We told our traditional rulers that this is what we want. Sometimes in November last year, we met with the bandits and, at the end of the day, we reached an agreement with them. That is why you see in Dansadau axis we have relative peace.”
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He explained that apart from the forceful abductions to work on farm, issues of kidnapping for ransom and rustling have drastically reduced.
“Even today there is a road construction work going on along the road. Everybody is there. No problem. This couldn’t have been possible before.”
Explaining the nature of dialogue they had or if they paid the bandits, the farmer said: “We did not pay the bandits any money. The agreement reached was on principle. I think it is this strategy that the Northern and Western parts of the state want to emulate from us.”
On what the farmers in the area now cultivate, he mentioned soya bean, explaining that it is a crop that can grow even without rain and farmers can easily harvest it without waiting for the rainy season.
“We are just appealing to the government to end the menace of kidnapping, banditry and rustling in the whole state. So that that the slogan ‘Farming is our pride’ will be restored”, he stressed.
Meanwhile, an official of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Zamfara State chapter, has denied that it planned to hold a meeting with bandits yesterday.
In an interview with the Sunday Tribune, the official confided that AFAN is divided into two factions, adding, however, that there is a move to bring the two factions together. He said a six-man committee comprising members of the two factions was constituted to recommend ways on how the forthcoming election of the association would be organised
