‘Vigilantes, Traditional Rulers Corner Rustled Cows in Zamfara’

The local vigilante volunteer group popularly known as Yan Sakai, and some traditional rulers in Zamfara State share rustled cows among themselves, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Usman Nagoggo said.

Displaying arms collected from suspected robbers and cattle rustlers Friday, Nagoggo said cattle rustling and armed banditry in the state got worse in the past six years.

He said the situation deteriorated to the extent that majority of the rural populace were no longer interested in rearing cows and other animals.

“When the situation became unbearable, the local populace decided to form what they called Yan Sakai. It is a militia group to confront the cattle rustlers. However, the group which was meant to collaborate with security agents in the area of information turned out to be the killers.

“They carried out extra judicial killings, confiscated rustled cattle and shared them with some traditional rulers. The rustlers then fought back, carrying out brutal attacks on villages where these Yan Sakai resided, thus aggravating the situation,” he said.

He said the state government banned the activities of Yan sakai and established a special committee on disarmament and amnesty in February this year.

“We achieved a lot after the committee was set up. We recovered eight AK47 rifles, one rocket launcher, three locally made revolvers and some of the bandits decided to renounce cattle rustling activities,” he added.

In his address, the governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, said the bandits were not sincere about the issue of amnesty, a development that caused security agents to use force against them.