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From John Adams, Minna
After almost two months of respite, armed bandits have resumed attacks on communities in Niger State and have, so far, displaced well over 500 farmers from their homes in the latest onslaught.
The latest attack was in Zagzaga and Tsohon Kabula communities in Munya Local Government Area of the state, where the bandits in their numbers invaded the communities at about 1.30am. Their first point of call by the gunmen was in Tsohon Kabula, where they abducted one person and later proceeded to Zagzaga, but they were not lucky as the people fled into the bush before their arrival.
Although no life was lost nor anybody abducted in Zagzaga, they, however, looted the entire shops and houses in the community, catering away foodstuff and other valuables. A dead body, which the community alleged may be an informant to the bandits was found in one of the shops in the community with bullet wounds on his stomach. He may have been shot for providing incorrect information as they (bandits) could not meet the villagers on arrival.
A source close to the community, who confirmed the latest attack to Daily Sun, said the bandits operated in the community for over three hours, adding that “they ran into the bush when they heard that the bandits were coming. They all slept in the bush, including women and children.
“Our people returned to their homes this morning to discover the body of one of the bandits who we suspected must have been shot in the stomach by his colleagues. We did not know why he was killed, but we saw blood all over his body, especially around his stomach. We were shocked to see the body because usually they don’t leave behind the body of their dead colleagues”.
A source said for the three hours that the bandits held sway in the community, no help could come from the security agents because of lack of fuel in their vehicles, pointing out that both the state government and Munya local government are not forthcoming in the provision of necessary assistance to the security agents in the area.
“The people of the community are the one that have been providing some little assistance to the security agents, in order to keep them in the community.
“Both the state government and the Munya local government have abandoned their responsibilities in the area of the welfare of the security. As I speak to you, they don’t have fuel in their vehicles to respond to distress calls.
“Nothing has changed; it is the same old stories, the people have been forced to abandon their farms in the peak of this planting season because there is no help coming from the government, the situation is quite unfortunate,” our source added.
However, when contacted, the permanent secretary, Ministry for Internal Security, Mallam Abdulraheem, debunked claims that the government was not doing anything to assist the security agents, adding that things are better than they were before the coming of the current administration.
“Things have actually improved in terms of the welfare of the security agents; the government is doing its best. These allegations of the government not doing enough to support the security agents are not true.”
