Residents of Kwanar Mayanci community in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State were thrown into palpable tension on Wednesday following the invasion of their community by a large number of gunmen on motorcycles.

According to an eyewitness, the villagers began to scamper for safety, thinking the gunmen were Boko Haram insurgents planning to unleash terror on them.

One of the residents in the area, Ibrahim Sani, told DAILY POST that the suspected armed bandits only cart away with many food items and some jerry cans containing petrol, which belonged to roadside petrol vendors in the town.

Sani noted that the heavily armed men mostly youths told villagers not to be afraid as they were not there to kill any of them in the village.

Speaking further, he explained that the leader of the alleged armed bandits gave the sum of N20,000 and asked those whose valuables were carried away by his boys to share as compensation.

The eyewitness said that the hoodlums occupied the Gusau-Sokoto road for over half an hour before they eventually zoomed away with their motorcycles towards the forest.

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When contacted, the Special Adviser to the Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Dauran, said that the gunmen were repentant bandits moving out of the state.

“They are moving out of the state as we have no problem with them and the state has become too hot for the armed bandits and notorious kidnappers,” he added.

When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Muhammad Shehu, stated that the gunmen were moving to Birnin Gwari in Kaduna State.