Some residents of Gidan-goga village, in the Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State, who fled to other places, have started returning to the village.
This followed the payment of the N20m levy imposed on them by bandits’ leader, Bello Turji, to forestall attacks on their community.
It was gathered that Turji, who imposed the N20m levy on residents of the village, had asked them to pay the money on or before Sunday, November 27, or face his wrath.
It was also gathered that he threatened to attack the village if the money was not paid on or before the deadline.
The threat, it was learnt, made many of the villagers to flee to other towns.
An indigene of the area, who pleaded anonymity for security reasons, said that the money was paid on Sunday.
“Many people including myself have returned to the village because of the payment of the levy. We paid additional sum of N6m for the release of five people abducted by the terrorists who belonged to Bello Turji’s camp,” he said.
All attempts to speak with the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Mohammed Shehu, failed as he could not be reached on his phone number as of the time of filing this report.
