Update: Forty-three villagers confirmed killed in Sokoto

Forty-three people have been confirmed killed in the wake of the attack by bandits on Goronyo township in Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

The state governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who made the clarification on Monday said the toll was confirmed after due diligence on figures of those who lost their lives to the market attack that occurred the previous day.

While receiving the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Farouk Yahaya, who paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Governor Tambuwal had said the bandits killed about 30 people.

“The number of people that died in Goronyo; I did say it was above 30. I was not categorical about the figure,” he was quoted as saying in a statement by his media adviser, Muhammad Bello.

“We just finished a meeting with some stakeholders and I have confirmed that we lost 43 people, unfortunately to that incident. May God Almighty have mercy on their souls.”

Traders from Sokoto and neighbouring states as well as the Niger Republic patronise the Goronyo market every Sunday.

Chairman of Goronyo LGA, Abdulwahab Yahaya, said apart from those killed, 16 traders were injured by the attackers and were taken to the hospital for treatment.

According to him, “Eight of the traders killed were from Goronyo while the remaining ones came from the neighbouring villages.”

He also corroborated that it could be a reprisal because of how Fulani men were killed by Yan Sakai in the area.

“The situation is calm now and nobody is displaced in the area,” he said.

Goronyo, Isa, Sabon Birni, Raba and others are the frontline of banditry in Sokoto and hundreds of people have been killed with many of the incidences not reported by the media.