Top security experts in Sokoto have described as stale and misleading the video currently circulating on social media depicting a mass exodus of people from a Sokoto community due to insecurity.
The video, which first surfaced online earlier this year, showed panicked women and their children moving in droves from Tidebale Ward and other neighbouring villages in Isa Local Government Area of Sokoto East Senatorial District.
Setting the record straight, locals said the misleading video was recorded when security personnel escorted residents of those communities to safer locations in response to threats posed to their lives by the notorious bandit leader, Bello Turji.
Reacting to the development, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 8 Division and Commander, Joint Task Force Operation Fasan Yamma, Major General Paul Koughna, led troops to the affected areas and deployed adequate security personnel across the communities.
The villagers, who confirmed having returned to their respective communities and enjoying peace since then, added that they have continued their agricultural activities without hindrance.
Some of those who fled to Isa town and neighbouring Shinkafi in Zamfara State for safety said they are happy to be back in their ancestral homes, noting that nothing compares to living in one’s own community.
“When the warning came, it deepened an already fragile security situation in Sokoto East, where rural communities remain vulnerable. All of us — women, children and the elderly — were displaced.
“We really suffered during that period of forced exile. Some slept in overcrowded homes belonging to relatives, while others stayed in makeshift shelters. We left everything behind. But thank God we are back now,” one of the former displaced persons said.
