Less than three months after his celebrated repentance, the bandit leader in Zamfara State, Auwal Daudawa, who became notorious after masterminding abduction of over 300 students in neighbouring Katsina State has reportedly gone back to the trenches.
According to a security source and two other sources close to the bandits said that Daudawa has relocated to one of the forests, near the border with Katsina.
The bandit is said to have coordinated the mass abduction of the students of Government Secondary School Kankara, on December 12, 2020, the first of such abduction by any criminal group outside Boko Haram in the North-East. About two months later, Daudawa was paraded before the governor in Gusau, where he proclaimed his decision to be a changed man.
Recall that Daudawa and five of his lieutenants surrendered 20 AKj47 rifles, ammunition and a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher, during the ceremony.
Daudawa was said to have been frustrated by the lack of proper engagement after he had laid down his arms.
He was and members of his gang who repented were housed in a government chalet for weeks before a house was secured for him in Damba, in the outskirts of Gusau, to move in with his family.
Sources familiar with Daudawa’s latest decision said that he packed out his family and his lieutenants back to Jaja forest in Zurmi Local Government on Monday.
The governor had on assumption of office two years ago re-introduced the amnesty window, urging armed Fulani youths who have been terrorising rural communities in the state to lay down their arms.
