An 18-old girl, Amina Suleiman has escaped from her community in Danmusa Local Government Area of Katsina State after her parents attempted to give her hand in marriage to a notorious bandit leader identified as Babaye.
Babaye had threatened to attack the Mai-zare community if Amina’s family turned down his request for her hand in marriage, forcing them to accept her bride price and fix a date for the wedding.
Meanwhile, a few days before the wedding, Amina escaped to Danmusa town, where she was spotted by members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (JTF), who took her to safety and later transferred her to their Zonal Office in Funtua.
Narrating her ordeal, Amina said her parents had approached her with the marriage proposal from the bandit leader, which she turned down.
“He approached my parents and asked for my hand in marriage, and they accepted his request out of fear. But how can I agree to marry him when he is a bandit? Everyone in the area knows him as a bandit leader. I cannot imagine myself becoming the wife of a known criminal”, she said.
Narrating how the incident unfolded, the Funtua Zonal Commander of the Civilian JTF, Abba Sarki, said the bandit leader had threatened to burn down the community if Amina’s family turned down his request for her hand in marriage.
Danmusa is among the frontline local government areas in Katsina where communities have faced persistent threats of killing and kidnappings for ransom by armed bandits operating in surrounding forest areas, several villages have been deserted as residents flee to safer locations.
Amina’s ordeal highlights the severe threats, intimidation and coercion faced by residents of insecurity-hit communities, where armed groups reportedly use threats and intimidation against lives and property to force locals to comply with their demands
-9News Nigeria
