- * Two Soldiers Killed In Sustained Attacks
By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North-Central, in Minna)
Palpable fears now grip Commissioners, political appointees and other top government functionaries as suspected armed bandits intensify attacks on Niger communities, indulge in kidnapping and destruction of properties.
The most recent of the abductions is that of the Permanent Secretary, Niger State Ministry of Transport, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Garba and his grandson. Garba had travelled to Zungeru in Wushishi Local Government Area for a wedding Fatiha. Until today, he s still in captivity.
The Permanent Secretary’s abduction is coming less than two months after the Commissioner for Information and Strategy and a Chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) were abducted from their villages in a similar manner.
Ibrahim Musa Garba had travelled to his village for a relative’s wedding and was said to be relaxing with his grandson after the day's event when the gunmen, numbering about ten, invaded his house and abducted him at about past midnight.
The invaders, it was gathered, forced their way into the compound after breaking down the main gate of the house. They took him and disappeared into the darkness.
Meanwhile, as the armed bandits sustained their advancements into the interior of Niger state, Governor Abubakar Sani Bello has confirmed that two soldiers died during a fierce gun duel between the armed bandits and the joint security forces in Shiroro Local Government Area.
The armed bandits said to be in control of almost half of the local government area were said to have also imposed a tax on the locals, abduct mostly women and set houses ablaze, leading to the increase in the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.
While the exact number of civilian casualties is yet to be ascertained, NIGERIAN NEWSLEADER Correspondent learnt that the armed bandits also set food storage facilities, including yam barns ablaze after abducting an undisclosed number of civilians, mostly women and their daughters.
Already, political appointees and other top government functionaries have gone underground with the rising encroachments and abductions by the armed bandits whose activities have led to the death of hundreds of people and properties worth several millions of Naira destroyed. NNL.
