Senate mourns over 120 Nigerians killed by bandits in Sokoto market

The Senate on Tuesday held a minute silence to mourn the killing of over 120 Nigerians by bandits at the Gorony market in Sokoto State. 

The attention of the upper chamber was drawn to the incident by Senator Ibrahim Gobir through a point of order during the start of plenary. 

According to the lawmaker, the massacre of the victims by bandits occurred on Sunday, October 17, 2021. 

Coming under Order 43 – Personal Explanation – of the Senate Rules, Gobir said, “on Sunday, 17th October, 2021, Gorony market was attacked, and about 120 plus people killed.

“The terrorists came to the market and started shooting every person they saw in the market.”

He disclosed that in seven villages within some local government areas of the state, residents are compelled by bandits to pay levies between N1 million and N20 million. 

Gobir gave the affected villages to include: Kwarangamba, Garki, Danadua, Katuma, Kurawa and Dama. 

The lawmaker lamented that failure to meet the demand imposed by the bandits in the affected areas had severally led to the killing of the villagers. 

Gobir expressed frustration that inspite of consistent pleas to security agencies to come to the rescue of the affected communities, nothing has been done so far by the military and police to intervene in the plight of the people. 

He further disclosed that the failure of the military to come to the rescue of the villagers has emboldened the terrorists to install their own representatives as villages heads in some areas of Sabon-Girin Local Government. 

“The terrorists are now installing their village heads in some areas of Sabin-Girin local government. 

“In Gangara, they replaced the village head with Dan Bakkolo, the next in command to a known terrorists called Turji.

“In Makwaruwa, they installed Dan Karami (a terrorist) as Maigari”, Senator Gobir said.