The people of Moriki Town in Zurmi Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara State have managed to convince a bandit leader, Bello Turji, to reduce the ransom he imposed on them from N50 million to N30 million, with Wednesday deadline for payment.

It was learnt that the sum is supposedly a compensation for the killing of Turji’s cows by the new commander of the Army base stationed inside Moriki. Each family head is required to contribute N10,000, while unmarried adults were mandated to pay N2,000.

It was further gathered that the villagers are proceeding with the payment despite the commander’s advice that they should not pay the money, and his promise never to harm Turji’s animals again.

The villagers, as gathered by an online newspaper, fear that if they fail to meet the demand, Turji will unleash more terror attacks on them, with no one to protect them from his brutality.

It was gathered that about 15 local politicians and social activists are still in Turji’s hostage. They were abducted from within Moriki despite the presence of soldiers stationed in the village.