“Everyone, Even Government, Benefits From Insecurity” – Confessed Bandit Kingpin Says

Abu Sanni, a confessed bandit kingpin, has said that insecurity has become a business everyone benefits from.

Sanni said insecurity has become a lucrative business, adding that everyone, including the government, is benefitting from the violent attacks. He said: “Because it has become a business. Everyone wants money. That is why things are deteriorating, from the top to the bottom.

Sanni, who says he helped mastermind the abduction of students of Government Girls Secondary School Jangebe, Zamfara, was interviewed by BBC Africa Eye in a forest in Zamfara.

The documentary titled ‘The Bandit warlords of Zamfara’, will air today, July 25. Yusuf Anka, a journalist, went into remote bandit enclaves in the state to speak with the bandits.

Sanni told the journalist that the schoolgirls kidnapped on February 27, 2021, were taken by his gang as revenge against the government for sending the military after them.

He said his gang demanded N300 million from the government for the release of the schoolgirls but N60 million was paid.

“When the rainy season ended, they sent the military after us. We decided to show the government they should not interfere with our problems. We went to Jangebe and took the students. We wanted to get the government angry,” he said.

“They say when there is insecurity, the government gets the money. Everyone is benefitting. We also get money. Though for our money, blood is spilled so it continues.”