Bandits have attacked Niger State’s Rafi local government area. The bandits are purportedly responsible for 60 villagers deaths in coordinated attacks on several communities. Many villagers were reportedly kidnapped during the five-day attacks, which also caused 80,000 people to evacuate their homes. Local hunters and vigilantes tried to stop them from wreaking havoc, but their efforts were unsuccessful, and 13 vigilantes died as a result. Over 15 communities in the local government, according to those on the run, have been taken over by the bandits. (The communities include Kusherki, Gidigori, Garun Gabas, Pangu Gari, Yakila, Sukoki, Sakaba, and Rafi Gora.)
More than 45 farmers and other villagers have also been killed throughout the five days of the siege on Rafi local government, according to a traditional leader of one of the communities who asked to remain anonymous. He added that the army and other security forces have not interfered with the bandits’ attacks on nearby communities as they have built a path through Rafi Gora.
Alhaji Usman Ayuba Katako, the head of the Kagara local government council, confirmed the bandit invasion over the weekend and characterized it as regrettable and disastrous.
He was unable to provide an exact death toll but could only confirm that those injured were being treated at an unnamed hospital.
Sen. Mohammed Sani Musa, who represents the Niger East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, protested the bandits’ recent attacks on his community and pleaded with the president to save his constituents.
The senator added that more than 70 peasants had been kidnapped during the time period under consideration and that bandits had taken over portions of his area.
The police have been sent to Yakila, Tegina, Kagara, Pandogari, Kusherki, and other communities to restore normalcy, according to DSP Wasiu Abiodun, Police Public Relations Officer for the Niger State Command.
