John Adams, Minna
Bandits numbering about 50 in the early hours of yesterday invaded Kagara town, the headquarters of Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, killed one person and kidnapped no fewer than 17 others.
The attack happed barely two days after some youths from 14 communities in the local government staged a peaceful protest to demand an end to series of bandits’ attacks on their communities.
Among those kidnapped are the wife of the Education Secretary of Chanchaga Local Government Area, who is also an elder brother to the Chief of Staff to the governor, Hajiya Simbiat Lawal, her six-month-old baby, six grand children of the former commissioner for Finance and later Agriculture in the state, Alhaji Tanko Inga.
The bandits, riding on about 30 motorcycles, stormed the Shagari Low Cost Housing Estate in Kagara town at about 2am and shot sporadically into the air before moving from house to house, picking their victims in an operation which lasted several hours.
A source close to the people told Daily Sun on telephone: “The doors or houses that refused to open were forced open and the occupants beaten before their property were looted or people kidnapped.”
According to reports, the operation by the bandits actually started in the afternoon of Wednesday at about 1.30pm where they raided Uregi, Karaya and Sambuga communities, a few kilometers from Kagara town, where several people were also kidnapped and hundreds of cattle rustled.
Alhaji Shehu Karaya was said to have lost 300 cattle to the bandits while the Sarkin Fulani (Chief of Fulani) in Karaya had his 100 cattle rustled and another man, Alhaji Abdullahi Musa, also had his 70 cattle taken away in Sambuga village.
Daily Sun learnt that no fewer than 10 motorcycles were taken away from their owners in Karaya village and shops were looted as the people watched helplessly.