Matawalle and the Zamfara State Debacle thisdaylive.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thisdaylive.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
For generations, Shinkafi had defined its place as a major socioeconomic melting pot attracting itinerant traders from all over the country as well as Niger Republic and Mali.
About ten years ago, this age-old tradition of trade came under threat. Local Fulani youths, who were notorious for wanton destruction of farmlands and petty crimes had begun acquiring guns, waylaying travellers.
Very soon, they moved from armed robbery to kidnapping for ransom, as they build up gangs and stockpile arms. The once peaceful and busy Shinkafi – Sokoto road soon became a dangerous route with travellers routinely getting abducted, released only after payment of ransom.
Parents of abducted schoolboys wait outside a camp to receive their children upon their release in Katsina, Nigeria, on December 18, 2020. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP)
Sir: Nigeria is currently bleeding, according to the Minister of Defence, Major-Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd). One cannot agree any less. The state governors are wailing, with some relocating to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, in search of the safety they can no longer guarantee their helpless citizens. In fact, to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, Nigeria has “totally collapsed,” he lamented while decrying the wanton wasting of human lives in Zamfara, Niger, Yobe, Benue and Imo states. Down south in the Eastern states, the war drums are already beating faster, with deafening decibels.
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Daudawa was killed days after returning to the forest to take up arms, according to Ibrahim Zauma, new media aide to Bello Matawalle, Zamfara state governor.
Zauma said on Friday that the bandits’ leader was killed while “trying to rustle.”
Writing via his Twitter handle, he said: “Barely nine days after Auwalun Daudawa returned to the jungle after swearing oath on the Glorious Quran never to go back to banditry, he met his waterloo! He was killed while trying to rustle.”
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Just in: Barely nine days after Auwalun Daudawa returned to the jungle after swearing oath on the Glorious Quran never to go back to banditry, he met his waterloo! He was killed while trying to rustle. pic.twitter.com/EeK8KRZcof
The notorious bandit shot to prominence after he masterminded the attack on Government Secondary School, Kankara where he abducted over 300 schoolboys overnight.