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…Community accuses Joint Security Taskforce of complicity
From John Adams Minna
Barely one week after gunmen stormed Dangunu community in Munya Local Government Area of Niger State and kidnapped a man and 16 members of his family, another group of bandits have attacked Jagaba village in Pandogari community, Rafi Local Government Area of the state, abducting 31 members of the village.
A middle-aged man and father of four who attempted to escape the invasion was shot dead on the spot by the bandits.
A source in the Pandogari community told our correspondent on phone that the gunmen believed to be numbering well over 50 stormed the village at about 11:00p.m on Thursday, shooting into the air to announce their arrival in the village.
He said that many of the villagers managed to escape into the bush while the gunmen succeeded in going away with 31 of the villagers.
According to the source, Jagaba village where the incident occurred is about two kilometers from the camp of the Joint Security Taskforce stationed at Pandogari, adding that there was no attempt by the security agents to repel the invasion despite distress calls sent to them by the people.
It was further gathered that the local vigilantes who wanted to respond to the distress call by the people were also prevented from doing so by the security taskforce and no reason was given for stopping the vigilantes.
“We alerted the security taskforce that there was an attack on the village and that people are being kidnapped, but they didn’t answer us. In fact, the local vigilantes wanted to go after the bandits, but these people (Security Taskforce) stopped them.
“We don’t know why they refused to take action and go after the people, and they equally stopped the local vigilantes from attacking the bandits. The question is that what are they doing here,” the source queried.
Pandogari, Allawa and their environs have continue to be at receiving end of bandits activities for the past 10 years with the attendant loss of lives and property worth millions of naira either destroyed or looted by the bandits.
This necessitated the establishment of military camps at Allawa and Pandogari.
But on more than three occasions, gunmen have launched attacks on the military camps at both Allawa and Pandogari, killing scores of security agents while leaving many others with serious injuries.
When contacted on the latest incident, the state Commissioner for Home Land Security, Gen. Garba Abdullahi Mohammed (rtd) confirmed the attack, but said the number abducted was less than 31, even when he did not give any figure.
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