Bandits kill one, abduct dozen in Niger communities
Suspected terrorists stormed some Niger State communities in the early hours of Wednesday, killing one person and abducting over ten residents.
The terrorists were said to have invaded communities in the Wushishi Local Government Area, where they also rustled cattle and livestock.
Arewa PUNCH gathered that the outlaws, numbering over 100 rode on motorcycles with each motorcycle carrying no less than three bandits each.
They were said to have moved through the Rafi LGA, Pandogari, and Kundu, and headed towards Akere and other communities in Mashegu Local Government Area.
A source who did not want to disclose his identity for fear reprisal told Arewa PUNCH that the bandits had earlier captured a man whom they ordered to serve as their guide while they rampaged through the communities on the LGA.
However, when they realised that the man was being laid back and not cooperating, they asked him to alight from the motorcycle and shot him dead.
The source said the bandits also rustled cattle and livestock, injuring many of the residents in the process of the attack, which lasted for several hours without intervention from the security agencies.
He listed the communities targeted by the bandits to include: Kundu, Garin, Gabas, Pangu Gari, Madaka, and Hana Wanka, among others.
While narrating to our correspondent how the incident happened, the source stated, “Yes, they came in the early morning in a very large number. They rode on motorcycles, carrying three bandits each. They killed a man they ordered to guide them through the villages because it was obvious that they were not familiar with many of the communities. They killed him because they thought he was not cooperating with them. That he was not guiding them properly.
“They also abducted many people as they raided the villages. They stayed very long, and there was no security interference,” he added.
Apart from those communities, Arewa PUNCH learnt that the terrorists also raided Jiwawa in Kundu ward, Rafi, and other communities in the Shiroro Local Government Area of the state where they spent hours during their daring attacks on the communities.
The Niger State Commissioner for Homeland Security, a retired Army General, Mohammed Bello, confirmed the incident and affirmed that a joint security operation was deployed to the area to arrest the situation.
Bello, who spoke with Arewa PUNCH on Wednesday night via the telephone, did not give details of the number of people abducted.
According to him, “the figure could have been exaggerated,” stressing that, “some of the residents may have run for dear life to escape the bandits’ attack only for people to insinuate that they were abducted.”
He further disclosed that the bandits even wrote to the communities informing them that they would operate until Friday, adding that the posture was just an empty threat.
He highlighted that the bandits in the state and even the country had run out of steam and were eager for a soft landing and to be reabsorbed back into society.
While further allaying the fears of the residents, the Commissioner for Homeland Security pointed out, “It was from the stretch of Pandogari, Rafi to those places and even touches of some fringes of Bako that they stormed. Even the things they wrote to the people, that they are going to be there up to Friday, but I know it is just a threat. But in order not to preempt these threats, we took the normal precautions by bringing out all the necessary arsenal and other things to forestall their invasion and mitigate peace and order to prevent future occurrences.
“Let me tell you one thing, when bandits enter a place, first of all, there will be panic. It’s difficult for anybody to say this is the number of those abducted. That time everybody will be running away, running for their dear lives.
“In most cases, the number can be exaggerated.
Sometimes, there could be abduction, let’s say three or four people were abducted, but in most cases, some people have run for their dear lives. It’s when they come back that they will tell the story. That time, you and I will not get to know what happened to each individual.
“I am not saying there was no abduction. But it is not true in its entirety now that all the people missing have been abducted,” Bello clarified.
