The District Heads of Allawa and Matan have called on Niger government as a matter of urgency to address the persistent attacks by bandits on communities in Shiroro and Rafi Local Government Areas of the state.
They made the called in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) shortly after meeting with the Secretary to the Niger State Government, Alhaji Ahmed Matane, at the Government House in Minna on Wednesday.
NAN reports that communities in Shiroro and Rafi have been witnessing series of attacks by bandits fleeing from Zamfara and Kaduna states, where many lives have been lost and thousands displaced from their communities.
Alhaji Sani Yakubu, village Head of Magani, said that the bandits attacked Kokoki, Galadima-gogo, Kurebe, Kasha, Bassa and Madaka communities in Matan and Allawa district areas of Shiroro and Rafi local government areas.
He explained that the activities of bandits had led to the death of nine, injured three persons and raping of women and teenage girls.
“The bandits started operation last week, they came in large number with AK 47 rifles and take out attacks four days randomly, they killed our people, stole our monies, raped our women and teenage girls and kidnapped six children.
“We paid a ransom of N2 million, buy them recharge cards worth N20,000 and gave them peak milk and five out of the six children were released.
“They didn’t end there, they came back again, rustled 3,000 cattle, followed house to house and stole about N10 million from us as well as our belongings such as motorcycles,” he said.
Yakubu explained that the continuous bandits attacks forced him and his wives to abandon his throne to seek settlement in the bush.
Similarly, Alhaji Mohammed Labaran, District Head of Matan, disclosed that during the attacks, there was no presence of security personnel in the affected communities.