Amnesty International has condemned the Zamfara State government over the security situation in the state, where killings and kidnappings have taken place in recent times.
In a statement on Tuesday by the Director of Amnesty International in Nigeria, Osai Ojigho, the human rights watchdog alleged that thousands of people have been displaced by a conflict which began in 2012, as a result of the clashes between farmers and herdsmen.
“This is Nigeria’s forgotten conflict. The authorities’ failure to act has left villagers in Zamfara at the mercy of armed bandits, who have killed hundreds of people over the course of two bloody years,” said Ojigho.
She also said 18 villages in the Mashema, Kwashabawa and Birane districts of Zurmi Local Government Area (LGA) of the state were attacked on Friday last week, leaving at least 42 people dead while 18,000 residents of the affected villages were displaced.
Ojigho said while the displaced persons were taking refuge at various locations in the local government headquarters, 15 people were kidnapped in Maradun LGA the following day.
She added that residents of some affected villages claimed to have been warned ahead of attacks on the phone and that they have also been asked to pay huge sums of money or risk being killed or abducted.
Ojigho claimed that their findings showed that the deployment of troops to the affected villages by President Muhammadu Buhari has yet to stop the killings in the state.
