Gun-wielding bandits have again launched an attack on the Niger State government officials with their latest pick being the Permanent Secretary, Niger State Ministry of Transportation, Dr. Ibrahim Garba Musa, along with his granddaughter.
It was learnt that Musa was abducted in his house in Zungeru where he went for a wedding ceremony and he was picked up by the gunmen in the night after the party.
One of the family members narrated that the gunmen entered into the house by breaking down the gate to abduct the Permanent Secretary who was relaxing after the celebration.
He added that the family members had reached out to the state government to inform them about the incident.
The Secretary to the Niger state government, Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Matane when contacted said he has just been informed about the incident and he was yet to confirm it.
He however said that the state government would do its best to ensure the Permanent Secretary is rescued unharmed.
The Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abiodun Wasiu, had yet to issue the police’s confirmation.
Some bandits from Zamfara State said they are moving to Sabon Birni area of Sokoto State in expectation of arrival of troops from Niger Republic who “are coming to assist Nigeria” in tackling the marauding armed men.
A leader of the bandits said gunmen had set up presence in the villages of Ballazu and Gangara, in the area.
Sabon Birni Local Government Area borders Niger Republic with many of the villages under it close to the border line.
There has been escalation of bandits’ attacks on Sabon Birni, and neighbouring local governments recently, including one on a military base at Burkusuma where at least 15 personnel were killed, and many others injured last weekend.
Sources confirmed to this newspaper at the time, that the attack was carried out by gunmen from the gangs of notorious bandits’ leader, Turji, with others loyal to Halilu Sububu. The two bandits’ kingpins operate around Zurmi and Shinkafi, two local governments bordering Sabon Birni.
The Defence Headquarters in a statement on Monday confirmed the attack but attributed it to forces from the jihadist’s Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Speaking to Daily Trust, one of the arrowheads of the bandits, Shehu Rekeb, claimed responsibility for the last weekend’s attack on the Nigerian security forces.
Rekeb said some security personnel kidnapped by the attackers were being held by the bandits.
He said Turji led his men to launch the attack in order to take position around the border town to avert any incursion by the Nigerien troops who, he said, were preparing to move in to support the push against the bandits operating in the area.
“It is said Niger is coming through there to support Nigeria; that is why we said the boys should go there to monitor,” he said.
He asked Nigerien President Mahamed Bazoum to stay out of what he described as a “family affair” and Nigeria’s internal affairs, warning that the bandits would begin to launch attacks on the Nigerien side.
On the claim that ISWAP was responsible for the attack, Rekeb said: “They know the attack was done by Fulani boys. They know them all. Many of their men were taken away; if they call them, they know who answers them.”
Suspected gunmen Friday murdered a herder in Ago Are, Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The incident is coming some months after the deceased’s brother was killed in a similar fashion.
In the fresh attack, the assailants in their large numbers stormed the premises of the deceased and shot him at close range, leaving him in the pool of his blood.
The motive for the latest incident could not be established last night.
The spokesman of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Kwara State Command, Babawale Afolabi, confirmed the incident.
“Yes, we got the report on Friday through our divisional officer in the town about another attack in Ago Are. This time around, a Fulani herdsman simply known as Ibrahim was attacked and killed,” he said.
The PRO further added that a manhunt has been launched to apprehend the perpetrators of the criminal act.
According to him, NSCDC will work with other security agencies to bring the assailants to justice.
Villagers in Sarkin Pawa Ward in Munya Local Government Area of Niger State are vacating their homes following attacks by bandits in which no fewer than 30 persons were reportedly killed.
Daily Trust also learnt that seven women were kidnapped by bandits in Sabon Kachiwe and still in captivity, four days after the attack.
A local government official from the affected community, who spoke in confidence, told our correspondent that the attackers also set the entire villages ablaze after slaughtering and shooting both men and women on sight.
“The security operatives came and evacuated the dead bodies and they were prepared and given mass burial,” a source said.
Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Ibrahim Matane, had earlier confirmed the attack on the three villages.
According to the SSG, 13 persons were killed in Kachiwe, 9 in Shape and 6 in another village, all in Sarkin Pawa Ward of Munya LGA.
But a source from the community said 10 persons were set ablaze in their rooms while four were slaughtered in Sabon Kachiwe village alone.
The source said the attackers also destroyed the telecommunication masts belonging to MTN and GLO during the attacks.
Another local, who spoke in confidence, told our correspondent that whereabouts of the abducted women were yet unknown.
A human rights activist and convener of the Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju has said President Muhammadu Buhari needs prayers for saying his administration has performed better than previous democratic governments since 1999.
He criticised Buhari for speaking about the discovery of the alleged sponsors of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu and Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho, and failing to talk about the sponsors of Boko Haram terrorists, who have killed thousands of Nigerians and displaced millions.
Adeyanju added that it was inconceivable to see that Buhari applauded the military personnel who have failed to defend the territorial integrity of the nation.
The activist noted that North-West Nigeria and the Middle Belt have been completely ravaged by terrorism and banditry, yet the President praised the Army for its failure to combat these criminals.
Adeyanju said this while reacting to Buhari’s speech on October 1 to commemorate the 61st Independence Anniversary of Nigeria.
The statement, titled, ‘Buhari mocked Nigerians with his Independence Day speech –Adeyanju’, was obtained by SaharaReporters on Friday.
It said, “The whole country knows that this is the worst government in the history of our nation.
“It is beyond sad to hear president Buhari commending the military for failure in his Independence Day speech. The North West, North Central and almost the entire country is almost a NO-GO AREA due to widespread insecurity. Terrorist groups control over 10 local government areas in the president’s home state of Katsina and collect taxes from residents openly and unchallenged.
“So many people who were killed by terrorists in Southern Kaduna were buried yesterday. Dora Akunyili’s husband was gunned down recently in the South-East yet the president praises the military for failure.
“The president also said he has discovered sponsors of IPOB and Oduduwa agitators but failed to talk about sponsors of Boko Haram that Dubai revealed recently because they are from his zone.
“The president apparently needs prayers for saying his administration is the best since 1999 and that Nigerians have never had it so good. It is unthinkable that the president of a nation should openly peddle so much falsehood as Buhari has just done.
“For context, cooking gas is N7,200 from N3,000 in 2015. $1 is N575 from N200 in 2015. The list goes on and on of the inflation records of the current administration. Nigeria has fallen completely to terrorist groups. This is a government that kills protesters but negotiate with terrorists.”
Thousands of wailing villagers, Thursday afternoon, swarmed around 38 coffins bearing the corpses of people killed by murderous herdsmen in Madamai and Abum villages in the Kaura local government area of Southern Kaduna.
They were violently killed on Sunday, September 26, 2021.
No official of the Kaduna state government was present at the emotion-filled funeral.
But the Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial Zone, Danjuma Laah told the villagers that they are being killed because the government has failed to defend them.
The Catholic Bishop of Kafanchan, Diocese Most Rev Julius Yakubu Kundi said also noted that the ruling class in Southern Kaduna have betrayed their people.
These were revealed to SaharaReporters on Friday in a statement issued by the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union’s spokesman, Luka Binniyat.
The statement is titled, ‘38 Coffins Of Killed Villagers In Southern Kaduna Stir Anger At Funeral Mass.’
It reads, “The coffins which were brought to the village square of Mallagun, about 6km from Madamai by the Kagoro-Samaru Kataf expressway for a funeral mass, also inspired fiery speeches, as Kaduna State government and even serving government officials that are of Southern Kaduna origin shunned the event.
“It could be recalled that Madamai and its smaller neighbour Abum, came under invasions of armed herdsmen last Sunday, leaving at least 38 people killed, 9 severely injured and 40 homes burnt.
“The first attack on Madamai was on the 15th of August 2021 in which 5 persons were killed and 26 houses burnt. No one has given reasons for the bloody crime.”
Addressing the mourners, Senator Laah, in his message, said it was left for the people of Southern Kaduna to decide whether they want to go into extinction or not.
“I have witnessed too many mass burials in Southern Kaduna. There was a time we buried 134 people in various mass graves in 2 days. If you still think that there’s going to be a government that is going to defend you . . . well, I am sorry for you.
“This mass was organised for the world to see the kind of evil that has been visiting us and we have been burying our kinsmen silently, just to await the next mass killings. But this time, the world must see this and bear witness that we are under genocide. If we the leaders speak against it, we are branded haters of peace,” Laah said.
In his speech, Kundi said, “These innocent, poor villagers lying in these coffins would have not been there if you, our elites and politicians did what you should do. Because I know that you have the means of doing it, when you know that we have no one to protect us. But because of greed and lack of foresight, you have abandoned our people.”
In his sermon, Fr. Billiyok Joseph Abba, said, “The people that committed this heinous crime against this Christian community may have injured us physically, but our Faith in Jesus Christ remains unshakable.
“They have cut down the lives of these brethren, but they have only hastened them into martyrdom and immortality with our Maker.
“We must not be moved into the ways of the aggressors, because the anger of our Lord would soon be unleashed on our enemies very soon.”
But the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State Chapter, Rev. Joseph Hayab, took a different view from Abba.
“We have written enough petitions, written too many press statements, organised Press Conferences and held several protests. No one appears to read or see us. The only time they will listen to us is if one day they enter a village and they are surrounded and none of them comes out. That day, they will listen,” he said to the loud approval of the moaning crowd.
SOKAPU President, Jonathan Asake on his part, said there was a well-designed agenda to chase out natives of Southern Kaduna from their communities and supplant a hostile, foreign one.
“As I stand here today, 104 of our communities in Southern Kaduna have been captured by armed herdsmen and thousands have been displaced with no consequence to the assailants.
“Our people are under a clear genocidal threat and the government must be held responsible for all these massacres.”
Meanwhile, the Kaduna state government clearly avoided the ceremony as not a representative of the government was present. Also, not a single serving government official, whether elected or appointed from Southern Kaduna was present at the event. The caskets were later laid in a mass grave dug by an excavator at Madamai, amidst more wailing around 5 pm.
Kaduna based controversial slamic scholar, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi has urged security operatives to stop killing bandits that are ravaging villages, abducting schoolchildren and killing Nigerians.
The controversial cleric asked that they should rather be respected and accorded human rights.
“The bandits also have empathy as we have; they have families, children. The first step is to use psychology on them. They aired their grievances and are ready to change.
“They should be respected and should be given all the human rights everybody has,” Gumi said Thursday at a peace conference by the Center for the Advancement of Human Dignity and Value held at Arewa House in Kaduna.
The controversial self-appointed mediator to assist in finding a solution to banditry, Gumi, said Nigeria will spend less to enlighten bandits than it is spending on arms and ammunition, Peoples Gazette reports.
“Some are suggesting killing them. All because they are killing. For three year’s you have spent $1 billion, and now you need another $1 billion. But, I said one-third of that will enlighten them, and they will stop killing. Have you tried it? Nobody tried it,” Gumi said.
Contrary to Gumi’s stance, Katsina Governor Aminu Masari said he bemoans that bandits have continued with their criminal activities despite being granted amnesty.
In several coordinated attacks, the criminals have kidnapped hundreds across North-East states, forcing school closure in Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger and Zamfara at different points.
In July, bandits bombed a Nigerian Air Force jet in Zamfara and attacked the Nigerian Defence Academy Kaduna in August, killing two and abducting a Major.
Zamfara State governor, Bello Mohammed Matawalle, has ordered for the restoration of telecommunication services in the state capital of Gusau with immediate effect from Friday, October 1, 2021.
This was contained in a statement signed by the special adviser on public enlightenment, media and communications to the governor, Zailani Bappa.
He stated that the restoration of the service was imperative following the tremendous success recorded by the security operatives in the fight against banditry in Zamfara State.
Governor Matawalle further noted that the restoration of the telecommunication services would ease the hardship faced by both private and public sectors while reaffirming the government’s commitment in the protection of lives and properties in the state.
“The restoration of the service at the state capital becomes imperative following the tremendous success recorded in the fight against banditry in the state and to ease the hardship faced by both the private and public sectors of the state.
“Government finds it necessary to ease the tight measure after the recorded success desired of it which has no doubt destabilsed the syndicate of criminals terrorising the state leading to the successes recorded against them by the security operatives.
“Governor Matawalle promises that his administration will continue to monitor closely the unfolding developments and will announce further decisions of government on measurs being taken appropriately,” he stated.
The head of the Holy Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has condemned the spate of killings and kidnappings in Southern Kaduna and Northern Nigeria in general and called on President Buhari to guarantee the safety of all Nigerian citizens.
The Pope expressed his solidarity with Nigerians after 38 people were gruesomely murdered in villages in the North-Western state of Kaduna on Sunday 26th of September 2021.
“I pray for those who have died, for the injured and for the entire Nigerian population. Pope Francis said during his Wednesday’s General Audience at the Vatican City.
The head of the Catholic church described the attacks as senseless killings of Nigerians by suspected jihadists and noted that massacres were not only happening in southern Kaduna, but all over the country.
“I learnt with pain the news of the armed attacks that took place last Sunday against the villages of Madamai Abun in northern Nigeria…I hope that the country always guarantees the safety of all its citizens,” he said.
Ado Namarai during interrogation by the Katsina Police command
By
Hassan Michael
An arrested bandit by name Ado Namarai has Indicted the Kaduna state Governor Nasiru El-rufai during interrogation by the police. Ado Namarai 55, an indigene of Kaura Bugaje village in Jibia local government area of Katsina state told the police that he has killed not less than 4 people during kidnapping operations around Birnin Gwari axis of Kaduna state since he joined the kidnapping gangs he claimed to be Fulanis.
The bandit made the confession in a video posted by a Freelance Journalist named Muhammed Auwal Muasu on his Instagram page; @Hausaa_fulanii and obtained by MBT. During interrogation by the Katsina state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Gambo Isah, the bandit admitted to being part of a bandit gang operating in Kaduna state.
He told the police that prior to 4-5 years ago, he was a labourer who makes bed using raw materials from harvested maize sticks and some of his customers were bandits.
“Before I joined the kidnapping business, I was into local bed making, an improvised bed I make using sticks from harvested maize. Most times when the bandits come to buy my products, they offer me more than the cost price.
“One day, they told me that as an old man I deserve a better life and that was how they introduced me to crime.” Namarai said
in the 9 minutes video, Ado Namarai said he and his gangs were also into cattle rustling and armed robbery operations. He also confessed to killing some of their victims during kidnapping operations.
“We attacked some commuters along Mando-Buruku road and I opened fire. I killed four people and shot a fifth on the leg. We abducted ten people in total from the two vehicles and each of them paid N10 million in ransoms.” He said
At the nineth minutes of the video, the bandit speaking in Hausa language told the police that his gang members are in a place called Sabon Filli, a community along the Kaduna international airport.
“As I speak to you now, I am sure they may be watching, they are in Sabon Filli and they are well armed.
“They sometimes go into the village armed and collect goods without payment. Whenever any goods owner try to protest, they will shoot the person.
“El-rufai knows about the place. He concluded before the video ended.
As at the time of filling this report, MBT could not verify why the video ended at the mentioned of the name El-rufai or why the bandit who was obviously not under any compulsion mentioned the Governor’s name.
It would be recalled that a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Obadiah Mailafia during an interview session with Nigerian info FM alleged that some repentant bandits commanders named certain Northern Governor of being Boko Haram commander.
Mailafia was invited by the Nigerian Services the DSS for questioning over the allegations.
The former Oxford trained Central Banker died under very controversial circumstances on the 19th of September 2021 with many Nigerians of the opinion that he may have been killed.
Kaduna state since 2015 has become the epicenter of kidnappings and attacks on communities which many blamed on Fulani herdsmen militias.
last Sunday, 38 people were killed by gunmen suspected to be Fulani terrorists in Madamai and Abun communities in Mallagum district of Kaura local government area of the the state. They were buried yesterday in a well publicised mass burial attended by dignitaries from Southern Kaduna.
When contacted, the Katsina state police public relations officer, Gambo Isah who interrogated the bandit for comments on the matter, he said he cannot comment on it.
“I cannot comment on the matter.” Isah said via a telephone conversation with MBT reporter
