Gunmen in the early hours of Thursday attacked Gidan Madi town, the headquarters of Tangaza local government area of Sokoto state, killing a divisional police officer and an inspector of police, with three housewives abducted in the process.
A reliable source from Gidan Madi told Blueprint that at about 12.20am, the bandits carrying dangerous weapons, stormed the police station shooting sporadically and in the process killed the DPO and abducted 2 housewives in a house close to the station, as well as another woman in Guraye, a nearby village
“Unknown gunmen attacked Gidan Madi Divisional Police Office at the headquarters of Tangaza local government in Sokoto state.
“They came in through the western axis of the town shooting sporadically, approached the police station, killed the DPO and Inspector before they abducted 3 housewives-two in a house close to the station- and another in Guraye village.
“We saw some Fulani strangers loitering in the town around 5 pm but nobody paid attention to them because they were not carrying anything then, and it’s normal to see strangers in the town giving the fact that the town is leading to Nigeria/Niger border,” the source stated
Gidan Madi is just about 47 kilometres away from Sokoto city and there’s a large chunk of soldiers attached in Tangaza town, some 12 kilometres away from Gidan Madi with the sole aim of containing any possible banditry attack from that axis
When contacted on a Whatsapp chat, the spokesperson of Sokoto Police Command, DSP Mohammed Abubakar confirmed the incident.
He said the state police commissioner, Ibrahim Ka’oje, had already directed investigation into the attack.
“At the moment, it is confirmed that there was an unwarranted attack on Gidan Madi Divisional headquarters last night.
“We will provide you with further information on the attack at the conclusion of the investigation, which has already been directed by the CP, who is at the moment, conducting an on-the-spot assessment of the Division,” DSP Abubakar stated.
Katsina farmers killed
In a related development, some armed bandits killed five farmers in Yanteba village of Malumfashi local government area of Katsina state.
Spokesman of the state police command, Gambo Isah, confirmed the ugly development in a statement Thursday in Katsina.
Isah disclosed that the bandits stormed the Yanteba Village at about 3:00am Thursday and started shooting their guns, leading to the death of the farmers.
He further disclosed that the bandits came to the village on a reprisal because their three brothers were attacked two days ago.
“The youth of Yanteba village saw three herders passing through their village and they gathered and attacked them which led to the death of one person and two other sustained injuries.
“Police from Malumfashi Division rushed to the village and rescued those that did not die.”
“Two days after the attack on the Fulani youth, the bandits came for a revenge mission where they killed five people,” he said
The command’s image maker advised residents to avoid taking laws into their hands by attacking the cattle breeders.
Isah said whenever the rural dwellers come across the bandits they should call the security agents and avoid confronting them.
He appealed to members of the public to provide information on the movements and whereabouts of bandits to the security agents for necessary action.
Oyo local vigilante group
Meanwhile, a traditional ruler in Oyo state, the Iba of Kishi, Oba Moshood Oyekola Lawal (Arowoduye II) Thursday allayed the fears of his people over the presence of suspected terrorists in a game forest in the town.
Oba Lawal said as at present, local vigilante members and security agents have started dislodging the suspected terrorists from the game forest in Kishi.
The traditional ruler stressed that there was no need for people in the town and beyond to panic about the situation since the joint efforts of local vigilante and security operatives led by the Nigerian Army have successfully dislodged the criminals from the reserve.
He said the local vigilantes and the other security agents engaged the suspected terrorists in crossfire but that the bandits were overpowered, adding that the joint task force did not record any casualty during the crossfire.
“There is no cause for hypertensive fear. Our local vigilantes are wonderful and as I am writing now, they have pushed them to Igboho route and some soldiers have joined the forces. Honestly, the bandits struck through Agboola farm, and after intensive crossfire they were forced out from that axis,” he said.
Oba Lawal added, “No death casualty from the side of our dwellers. We shall be on top of it. Necessary steps have equally been taken.
“We need to apply caution and not paint our ancestral home as land of terror to the outside world. We shall In-sha-Allah be victorious on all internal and external aggressors.”
It will be recalled the Aare Ona kakanfo, Iba Gani Adams recently raised alarm of the presence of suspected terrorists in Kisi forest
Adams, while raising the alarm, alleged that the suspected terrorists were attacking and kidnapping residents.
Masari warned
Also, Katsina state Governor Aminu Masari has been criticised by a former federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani, over his proposal to bandits.
The governor was said to have proposed to offer houses, market stalls and farmlands to bandits willing to surrender and handover their arms to security operatives.
But the ex-lawmaker on his Twitter handle Thursday said the proposal by Governor Masari-led government amounted to rewarding terror and would only end up emboldening the criminals and also encourage others to join criminality.
“Katsina government proposal to offer bandits farmlands, market stalls and houses amounts to appeasing and rewarding terror.
“It would only embolden the bandits, encourage others to join and further escalate and worsen the situation in the North-west and North- central,” the senator said.
A recent report had claimed that the Katsina state government intended to use the measure to end the lingering banditry in the state.
A leader of the bandits in the state simply known as Sada was said to have voluntarily surrendered to troops at Forward Operation Base at Dansadau recently.
The secretary to the state government, Mustapha Inuwa, was quoted to have said the government had completed plans for bandits who would accept the proposal to leave to an approved settlement near Rugu Forest.
“This is part of a design by the government to clear the forests from being inhabited by bandits; the committee is set to work on the needed infrastructure any time from now.
“Some of the settlement areas being considered include, Yantumaki-Maidabino forest area and Sabwa/Faskari forests,” Inuwa was quoted saying.
NHRC trains security personnel
In a related development, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in collaboration with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has trained security personnel on mainstreaming human rights and civilian protection in Adamawa, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
Speaking during the two-day training Thursday, NHRC Executive Secretary Tony Ojukwu said the training was for key military officers directly involved in the counter-insurgency operations in the North East.
“The justification of this training cannot be overemphasised. The war against insurgency is complicated by (the) asymmetric nature of the conflict.
“The insurgents live within us and there is hardly (a) clear drawn battle-line between the insurgents and civilian population.
“There is, therefore, an extreme need to prosecute the anti-insurgency operations to win the hearts and minds of the civilian population of Nigeria,” he said.
He commended the Nigerian Army for working hard to protect Nigerians and encouraged the participants to actively engage in the various course sessions.
In his presentation, Kabiru Aliyu, NHRC Assistant Director, Legal, said the objectives of the training were to improve the capacity of the military on issues regarding the protection of human rights in the course of their operation.
The NHRC Investigation Officer, Anthonia Nwabueze, said the mandate of the commission was to protect, promote and enforce human rights in Nigeria.
She said the commission deals with all matters relating to the protection of human rights as guaranteed in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
According to her, the commission has different ways of receiving complaints across the 36 states in the federation and all services are free of charge.
“We monitor and investigate human rights violation and make appropriate recommendations to the Federal Government for prosecution and such other action as it may deem expedient in each circumstance,” she said.
