The people of Bilbis village, the hometown of the Senator representing Zamfara Central, Ikira Aliyu Bilbis, in the Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State are living under a siege, as bandits have forced the community into an indefinite indoor lockdown.
According to a resident, Murtala Ahmed, the village has been under a forced “curfew” for over ten days.
He revealed that any resident sighted outside their home is chased back indoors by terrorists, who then use the opportunity to ransack houses and cart away valuables and cash.
The situation took a bizarre and predatory turn just before Ramadan.
Following an army raid on bandit cattle near the village, the terrorists retaliated by slaughtering the wounded livestock and forcing every household to “purchase” small portions of the meat for N5,000 each.
Furthermore, the community is grappling with a massive N30 million extortion levy imposed by the gang.
Residents disclosed that they have already paid N15 million in a desperate attempt to avoid further bloodshed.
In a viral open letter addressed to Senator Bilbis, panicked constituents lamented the state of chaos, noting that many residents are too impoverished to even afford the transport fare to flee to safer areas like Gusau.
In response to the escalating crisis, the State Police Command announced that a joint military-police tactical team successfully reopened the Kucheri–Bilbis–Danjibga–Keta road.
The State Commissioner of Police, CP Ibrahim Balarabe Maikaba, confirmed that Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units detected and detonated multiple Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted by the terrorists to block food supplies and movement.
Despite these security gains, local political leaders, including Senator Bilbis and the Tsafe Council Chairman, remained unreachable for comments at the time of filing this report.
