Bandits have killed the village head of Kusherki in Rafi local government area of Niger state, Mas’ud Abubakar and abducted his wife, children and some other persons.
Similarly, they also killed nine vigilante and abducted 23 in Kachuae village of Munya local government area of the state.
Meanwhile, governor Abubakar Sani-Bello, in a statement by the spokesperson, Mary Noel-Berje on Tuesday, reacted to the killings saying, the increasing activities of kidnappers and bandits in the state, was becoming a nightmare to the people.
Condemning the killings, Sani-Bello challenged the security agencies to intensify their search to ‘fish-out’ and ensure that the perpetrators of such heinous acts are brought to justice.
“The situation, particularly in the last 72 hours, has become regrettably alarming! While efforts are ongoing to secure the release of the abducted NSTA passengers, we heard that of Kusherki and Kachuae. We are witnessing these attacks now, almost, on daily basis and it is worrisome”, the statement said.
The Governor said the state government will not be deterred nor discouraged by the recent turn of events stressing that the existing collective resolve of government, security agencies and the people must be sustained to checkmate the situation.
He expressed regret that the infiltrating bandits are closely collaborating with some insidious Informants within the communities to attack them and tasked the people to provide more intelligence to the security agencies to isolate the informants in order to eliminate the bandits.
The governor also asked for more of federal government’s intervention to tackle the rampaging menace noting that banditry is becoming a situation of war in the state, hence the need for a fresh, sustainable and multidimensional strategy that will neutralize both the bandits and their informants.
