Residents of Bakale village in Kilgori District, Yabo Local Government Area of Sokoto State, have been issued a fresh N20 million levy by a terror gang that threatened to “kill and abduct” villagers if they fail to comply, PLATFORM TIMES can report.
In an audio recording obtained by our reporter, the bandit kingpin was heard instructing the village head to immediately reconvene his subjects and deliver the ultimatum.
“Did you meet with them? Did they agree to obey your command?” the gunman demanded during a tense back-and-forth with the traditional ruler.
After the monarch confirmed he had already briefed residents on an earlier instruction, the armed leader issued a new order:
“Tell them to pay N20 million. We don’t want to attack you. That is why we imposed the levy. If you pay, you will live in peace. But if you fail, we will attack you, kill you, and abduct your people. This is our message.”
A senior community leader who requested anonymity told PLATFORM TIMES that Bakale is just one of about a dozen villages in Kilgori and Torankawa Districts now under the control of the gang, which has introduced a compulsory “security levy” ranging between N3 million and N20 million.
The affected communities include Bazar, Alkalije, Gari, Bakale, Dagel, Adarawa, Kwaidaza, Kilgori Runji, Tudu, Tile, Kibiyare and Barmadu, among others.
“They have turned us into a revenue stream. If you don’t pay, they kill. If you pay late, they still attack you. We are helpless,” the leader said.
According to him, at least six people were killed in Alkalije and four others murdered in Tile during separate assaults within the last two weeks.
“They come at night, they come in the afternoon. Nobody sleeps again. We have reported to authorities but nothing changes,” he added.
Repeated calls to the spokesperson of the Sokoto State Police Command, DSP Ahmad Rufa’i, were not answered as of the time of filing this report.
Residents say the silence from security agencies has emboldened the attackers.
Security analysts warn that such levies — now common in Zamfara, Katsina, Niger and parts of Sokoto — have created a parallel taxation system run by armed groups who exploit weak governance and under-policed rural communities.
A lecturer in security studies at Usmanu Danfodiyo University, who asked not to be named, described the situation as “a full-blown extortion economy where terrorists now operate like local government collectors.”
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