Gunmen have killed the village head of Rumache in Kukoki ward of Shiroro local government area of Niger state, Malam Ahmad Yakubu Rumache, and kidnapped 17 villagers in four other communities in the local government area.
The bandits were said to have invaded the village at about 2:00 am on Friday and also dispossessed the villagers of their valuable belongings before setting their houses ablaze in addition to abducting the son of the murdered village head.
It was gathered that several villagers sustained various degrees of injuries from gunshots and other dangerous weapons used during the attacks.
The chairman of Shiroro local government area, Malam Suleiman Dauda Chukuba, confirmed the attacks, saying the villagers were taken unaware and it was difficult to ascertain the number of bandits who invaded the village.
“The attack happened at midnight around 1 to 2:00 pm. They were many and they took the villagers unaware. No one could ascertain their numbers because it was night.
“As for casualties, only the village head of Rumache was killed while his son was kidnapped. However, a day before, the bandits invaded four communities and kidnapped 17 people in Magami, Gungu, Zongoro and Masuku Villages communities,” he stressed.
He said police from the Erena Division and some vigilantes “are currently scouring the bushes and the villages.”
The chairman appealed for urgent government intervention stressing that Shiroro local government area “needs nothing other than prayers and government intervention.”
“I need government intervention because of the way this is going, we need government intervention.”
One of the children of the deceased village head, Al-Mustapha Ahmed, also confirmed the death of his father, lamenting that “government has deliberately remained complacent on the lingering security challenges rocking the whole Shiroro local government.”
He said, “Attacks of this nature have almost become a daily routine, thereby constantly subjecting unarmed and peace-loving people to ceaseless tension, fear, anxiety, and panic.
“It is no longer news that inhabitants of these affected parts of the local government have since been robbed of security, forcing us to scamper helter-shelter for security and safety somewhere else. People have been displaced and ironically made circumstantial but avoidable refugees in their own ancestral land.”
