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John Adams, Minna
Armed men have abducted two foreigners and six others in Erena, Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
The two expatriates were said to be handling the contraction work on the 52 kilometers roads from Erena town to Kaure village, a border town between Niger and Kaduna states, cutting across over 200 villages.
The contract for the road was awarded by the former senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Senator David Umoru, in 2018, and had continued with the work despite his exit from the red chamber.
The expatriates and their Nigerian counterparts were kidnapped in the early hours of Monday around Galadiman-Kogo community in the local government, a source close to the community told our correspondent. The affected persons were said to be working on the site when they were sized by armed men who stormed the area on motorcycles.
The latest incident is coming barely five days after bandits attacked communities in Shiroro and Rafi local government areas, killing 13 and displacing over 3, 000 inhabitants.
The over 3,000 displaced persons are still in camps in Kuta Central Primary School, Guni Primary school both in Shiroro local government area and Kagara in Rafi councils.
Malam Suleiman Dauda Chukuba, the newly elected chairman of Shiroro Local Government Area, told newsmen that the armed bandits invaded the community in the early hours of Monday and kidnapped the workers.
According to him, several communities in the local government area were under siege by bandits with many killed or displaced and properties destroyed. He called on the state government to, as a matter of urgency, deploy security agencies to rescue the foreigners.
Also confirming the incident, the legislative aids to Senator Umoru said the foreigners were taken away from the construction site but that the kidnappers were yet to place any demand on the victims.
He said the complete absence of security in the area had continued to make life miserable for the people, stressing that security challenges was responsible for the delay in the completion of the road project.
He said the former senator has been responsible for the little security presence in the area, adding that the bandits actually overpowered the security men in the community.
