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John Adams, Minna
Barely 24 hours after armed bandits invaded Kukoki Community in Shiroro local government area of Niger State, kidnapping six people, three communities in Rafi local government area of the state have come under attack.
About 800 people have fled their homes and are currently taking refuge in three different camps in the area.
The Heavily armed bandits arrived the communities in 24 motorcycles with three of them on each of the motorcycles, reports say.
The communities are Rafin-Wayam, Rafin-Kwakwa and Gidan Dogo-Gurgu.
The entire communities were thrown into confusion as people, including women and children, ran away for safety.
About 800 people from the three communities have been forced to relocate, with a majority of them camping in some any available structure, including schools in Kagara, the headquarters of the local government.
A member of one of the communities, Malam Dahiru Mohammed, said the bandits surrounded his community, Rafin-Wayam, to prevent people from escaping as they ransacked the area, house to house, looking for loot.
“The took everything from us, including bread and beverages. The didn’t kill anybody, but they collected all our valuables,” he narrated.
After a two-hour operation, which began at about 6:45 pm, the bandits left the communities in a convoy and headed to Pangu-Gari, another community in the area.
Meanwhile youths from Kagara have trooped to the streets to protest what they described as “incessant” armed bandits attacks in the area in the last one month.
The placard carrying youths chanted anti government slogans and blocked the major highway leading to Brinin-Gwari in Kaduna State.
The youths in their hundreds condemned the state government for its seeming insensitivity to the plight of the people, especially women and children who are among the displaced.
One of the youths, Jamilu Aliyu, lamented the sorry condition of the displaced people who, by his account, are in dire need of food, water and other basic necessities.
Police spokesman Mohammed Abubakar confirmed the latest attacks, saying that no causality was recorded.
He, however, said that the mode of operations of the bandits shows that “they are running out of food and therefore came for reinforcement.”
