Band!ts Reportedly Impose N20Million Levy On Katsina Community, Thr£aten To Expel Residents
Bandits Reportedly Impose N20Million Levy On Katsina Community, Threaten To Expel Residents
The development was disclosed on Sunday by security expert and reporter Bakatsine in a post, amid growing concerns over the deteriorating security situation in Katsina State.
Bandits have reportedly ordered residents of the Kwandawa community in Malumfashi Local Government Area of Katsina State to pay a N20 million levy or risk being driven out of their village.
The development was disclosed on Sunday by security expert and reporter Bakatsine in a post, amid growing concerns over the deteriorating security situation in Katsina State.
According to the post, the bandits stormed Kwandawa on Saturday night and imposed the hefty levy on residents following the reported killing of one of their members in the area.
“Last night, bandits reportedly imposed a ₦20 million levy on residents of Kwandawa community in Malumfashi LGA of Katsina State, warning that the community must pay if they wished to remain in the village,” the security expert wrote.
“The demand was reportedly linked to the killing of a bandit in the area.”
According to Bakatsine, “The bandits also went house-to-house, looting bridal gifts and household items belonging to newly married women.
“They later moved to the villages of Tsaraka and Maturi, where similar reports emerged of newlyweds being stripped of their belongings.
“As rural communities continue to face intimidation, displacement, and economic hardship, one painful question remains: how much longer must innocent civilians bear the burden of this conflict?”
SaharaReporters reached out to the Katsina State Police Command to confirm the incident and obtain an official situation report.
However, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Abubakar Sodiq Aliyu, did not answer calls made to his mobile phone, nor respond to a text message at the time of filing this report.
The reported incident highlights the growing trend of terrorist groups imposing illegal levies on rural communities across Nigeria’s Northern region, where residents have frequently been subjected to extortion, kidnappings, and violent attacks and killings.
Katsina State, the home state of former President Muhammadu Buhari, has remained one of the states most affected by banditry and terrorist attacks despite repeated military operations aimed at dismantling criminal networks operating in the region.
