Governor Yari of Zamfara, chairman of NGF

Speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Alhaji Sanusi Rikiji has announced the state government plans to immediately rehabilitate villages recently destroyed by bandits in Zurmi local government area of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 18 villages in the three districts of Kwashabawa, Birane and Mashema were attacked by bandits last week where scores of people were killed.

NAN further reports that following the attacks, over 12,000 villagers from the affected areas deserted their homes and are now being camped in schools, hospitals and offices in Zurmi, the local government headquarters.

The speaker who made the announcement at a press briefing in Gusau on Sunday, described the Zurmi attack as the worst in the state since 2012.

“As we are talking now, these districts are no longer under government but bandits control and we are mobilizing with security personnel to go and flush them out, ” Rikiji said.

He said while efforts were being made to rebuild the affected villages, the communities would remain at the local government headquarters where they would be catered for.

” At this moment, even if they go back to their villages, there will be no food or shelter for them because the bandits have burned down most of the houses along with foodstuff and animals, ” he said.

“We are also going to bring doctors so that the victims will be treated out of the trauma they went through especially the women and children,” the speaker further said.

He said, at the moment, both the state and the national emergency agencies were providing services to the victims.

Rik ii said the IDPs would remain in place until the arrival of a federal government delegation which he said was being expected for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation.

He said another camp in Shinkafi was holding 7,500 IDPs persons.