An 18-year-old girl, Amina Suleiman, has escaped from her community in Danmusa Local Government Area of Katsina State after her parents attempted to give her hand in marriage to a notorious bandit leader identified as Babaye.
Babaye had threatened to attack the Mai-zare community if Amina’s family turned down his request for her hand in marriage, forcing them to accept her bride price and fix a date for the wedding.
A few days before the wedding, Amina escaped to Danmusa town, where she was spotted by members of the Civilian Joint Task Force, JTF, who took her to safety and later transferred her to their Zonal Office in Funtua.
Narrating her ordeal, Amina said her parents had approached her with the marriage proposal from the bandit leader, which she turned down.
“He approached my parents and asked for my hand in marriage, and they accepted his request out of fear. But how can I agree to marry him when he is a bandit? Everyone in the area knows him as a bandit leader. I cannot imagine myself becoming the wife of a known criminal,” she said.
Narrating how the incident unfolded, the Funtua Zonal Commander of the Civilian JTF, Abba Sarki, said the bandit leader had threatened to burn down the community if Amina’s family turned down his request for her hand in marriage.
“Her parents insisted that she must marry the bandit to save the community. They went ahead to collect her bride price and fix a date for the wedding, but they only acted under duress,” Sarki said, maintaining that authorities will not return her to the community.
