One dead as bandits abduct six Niger State

 

Six girls between the ages of 15 and 17 have been reportedly kidnapped by bandits in Pandogari Community, Rafi LGA of Niger State.

Residents told Daily Trust that the bandits invaded their community in the midnight on Wednesday, killing a vigilante, Aliyu Aminu, and kidnapping the girls.

Residents said the attackers, in their numbers, entered the community from Birnin Gwari axis, through the Mamman Kontagora Technical College, Pandogari.

Sources said the kidnapped girls were moved to Kwangel Forest.

One of the sources said the bandits moved from house to house during the night raid.

“The Wednesday night attack was third in a week. They have been attacking us since the negotiation with Kaduna State Government. The negotiation and settlement with residents of Birnin Gwari is not to our advantage.

“These attacks resumed since the day Kaduna State negotiated with them in Birnin Gwari. Last week, they came and kidnapped people including the village head. They came twice before the last Wednesday night,” he said.

The Chairman, Rafi LGA, Ayuba Usman Katako, confirmed the attacks in a Hausa programme, Tsalle Daya on Prestige FM, saying that Niger and Kaduna state governments needed to work together to ensure that the two states are safe.

“It was true that bandits attacked Pandogari community. In fact, that was not the only attack in the last two weeks. The Wednesday attack was the third one.

“In the previous attacks, they only succeeded in kidnapping some people in some Villages but on Wednesday, a life was lost before they kidnapped 8 people but 4 of them eventually escaped,” he explained.

The member representing Rafi Constituency in the Niger State House of Assembly, Zubairu Isma’ila Zannan Kwangoma, in a motion of urgent public importance on the floor of the House, noted that terrorists had, within one month, kidnapped 122 people and killed two in Rafi LGA.

He listed the most affected communities to include Pandogari, Gidigori, Ringa, and Kawo, adding that the affected communities had been severely subjected to economic hardship and agricultural destruction, after they were displaced.