From John Adams Minna
Barely five days after gunmen suspected to be members of the dreaded Boko Haram killed 20 people, out of which 10 were beheaded in the Bassa community in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, three people were, on Tuesday, killed by the terrorists in Lantan village in the same local government area.
Lantan village is about five kilometres from Bassa community, where the 20 people were killed, last Thursday. The three people were said to have left the internally displaced camp in Erena community, where over 3,000 displaced people from Allawa, Bassa and other communities in the area are currently taking refuge, with the intention of going to get food stuff from their farms, when they were gunned down.
All the displaced people from the communities are currently facing acute shortage of food and other essentials with no help coming their way, hence the decision by the victims to take the deadly risk in search of food.
The over 3,000 displaced people were forced out of their ancestral homes in Allawa and Bassa after the Boko Haram members successfully dislodged the military from their camps in the communities, killing three officers and some soldiers. The villages that came under attack, yesterday, include Lantan, Roro, Rumuchi and Makuba, where all the houses, food stuff and other properties were destroyed.
A member of the community, who lost one of his son in-law in the latest attack, Adamu Saidu, told Daily Sun on phone that the victims were shot on their way to go and get food for their families.
“We were here in the camp without food for our children, and they decided to go back to the village to get some food when they were rounded up and killed. Although they allowed us to carry their dead bodies and we buried them, yesterday (Wednesday), but, as I speak with you, they have burnt down three villages. They set fire to all the food in these villages, including shops. They told us that anybody who dared to come back to these villages will be killed”, he said.
Although there is no official statement from either the government or the security agencies in the state on the latest attack, a former chairman of the local government area, who did not want his name in print, told Daily Sun that the situation is now worse than before as the terrorists no longer ask for ransom, but outright killing of the innocent villagers.
“When they see anybody, they just kill him; they are no longer kidnapping and demanding ransom like before. They kill and burn villages, including food stuff. The situation is now very terrible. The unfortunate thing is that nobody is saying anything about the current situation. Apart from the Erena community, there is no single security presence anywhere around these communities that are under attack. From Allawa, Bassa, Latana, Makuba, Chukuba, Kusasu, Iburo, Kpadna etc, there is no security in these communities.
The communities have been deserted”, he said.