Shame of a nation so to speak as terrorists and bandits are back fully in operations across the country, specifically in the northern part of the country after what appears to be a lull in their murderous activities during the general elections and cash crunch necessitated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) naira redesign.
On Monday, terrorists unleashed mayhem in five states, including Niger, Kaduna, Kogi, Adamawa, and Bayelsa, killing scores of people and kidnapping no fewer than 34, including two police officers.
The terrorists also carted away arms and ammunition from the security agencies. Seven days after killing seven people and abducting 26 persons, bandits on Sunday evening invaded Mashegu Local Government Area of Niger State.
This time, they killed two villagers and kidnapped two policemen and no fewer than 32 villagers. The bandits were said to have gone straight to the Ibbi Police Station in Mashegu, attacked those on duty, and whisked away two of the policemen, the Vanguard reports on Tuesday.
After sacking the policemen on duty, the bandits were said to have ransacked the armory in the station and carted away some arms and ammunition. Sources said no fewer than 32 people were abducted from different villages in the community. All the abducted villagers were taken into the Ibbi Forest.
“This incident happened about 24 hours after an unidentified aircraft hovered around the community and the police station. Some of the areas raided include Ibbi and Mazakuka towns.
“Statistics show that 15 of those abducted are from Mazakuka town, while nine are from Ibbi town, and all of them, including the policemen abducted, were led into the forest, where they are yet to be traced,” the source revealed.
Local vigilantes from Mokwa and New Bussa trailed the bandits into the forest and engaged them in a gun battle that lasted for hours. Unfortunately, the commander of the vigilante was killed by the bandits, and some of the bandits were also reported to have been killed by the vigilante members.
The remains of the commander had been taken to his village and buried. All efforts to reach the Commissioner for Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs, Emmanuel Umar, proved abortive, just as the spokesman of the State Police Command, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, could not be reached on his telephone line.
The Chairman of Mashegu LGA, Umar Igede, had cried out over incessant attacks on the local government in the past two months and called on the government to come to their rescue as the villagers are fleeing their ancestral homes to take refuge in the Internally Displaced Peoples Camps (IDP), thereby increasing the population of the camp geometrically.
