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From John Adams, Minna
After weeks of bloody attacks on communities in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, the gunmen have agreed to ceasefire to enable the people return home to evacuate their food stuff and other valuables.
The ceasefire, according to a reliable source close to Galape, one of the affected communities in Galadiman Kogo District, will only last for five days as the gunmen have continue to lay siege on the areas.
This development came as a great relief to the people of the affected communities who have being faced with shortage of food, water and other essentials since they flee their homes, as they struggle to cope at their various IDP camps in Zumba, Gwada, Kuta and other places.
Over 6,000 people have being forced to flee their homes in the last one month following bloody attacks by gunmen, leaving no fewer than 15 security agents and over 50 villagers killed, hundreds injured with property, including food stuff and houses worth millions of naira destroyed by the rampaging gunmen.
Affected communities that have been overrun by the gunmen in the last one month include Galape, Iburo, Nakudna and Galkogo, the epic centers, Pellele, Agatai, Kusasu, Gofan Keremi, among others.
The continue onslaught by the gunmen has forced the Joint Security Task Force, led by the special hunters to abandon the communities after 11 of their men were killed and several others injured.
According to our source who did not want his name in print for security reasons, the affected communities have remained without security agents until the Monday morning bloody attacks which left four Civil Defense personnels who had gone to the communities for on-the-spot assessment, dead after their vehicle ran into an explosive device planted by the gunmen.
The gunmen, it was gathered had announced the ceasefire through a phone call to a member of one of the communities whose number was obtained from one of the victims in their captivity.
‘They called the communities, using the phone of one of the victims with them that the people can come and get some food stuff and promised not to attack them. Since yesterday (Tuesday) our people have been going to the village to get some foods and other basic needs.
‘The gunmen said by Friday they don’t want to see anybody in the communities, so it is just five days they gave to our people. It was a relief because the people have ran out of food and no money to buy.
‘The entire Zumba community is filled with people who have been escaping from the attacks since last month and there is no help from anywhere, except Senator Sani Musa who sent some items to all the IDP camps last week, and because of the population, the items are not enough.
‘The Senator is the only visible elected representative of the people from the area that has continued to reach out to the people, especially since the escalation of these attacks.
‘The IDPs are not only in Zumba here, the entire remaining seven wards out of the 15 wards are filled with people. There are a lot of humanitarian crisis right now in Zumba community because there is no food and no water,’ he lamented.
