Bandits kidnapped 30 in Saturday attack – Zamfara emir 

The Emir of Bungudu in Zamfara State, Alhaji Hassan Attahiru, on Wednesday said bandits who attacked his domain on Saturday kidnapped 30 people.

The emir had in an interview with The PUNCH on Tuesday said the Nigerian Air Force ignored distress calls when the bandits attacked his domain and killed 15 people on Saturday, but NAF in a statement on Wednesday said the monarch’s claim was mischievous.

But the emir on Wednesday commended the media for bringing into national focus the appalling security situation in his domain.

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He stated, “It reached a situation that my people were afraid for my life, asking me not to visit certain places, for me not to be kidnapped.

“Apart from the 15 people killed when the bandits invaded Makwa village, 30 others were kidnapped and whisked away to unknown destinations by the bandits.

“The kidnapped victims upon payment of ransom, which the state government frowned upon, are usually freed.”

On a claim that security agents of the Operation Sharan Daji and Habun Kunama III, went after the bandits and rescued some of the kidnapped victims in Bungudu, the emir stated that the troops should not claim credit for what they did not do.

He stated, “Those they claimed they rescued are escapees from the kidnappers. The troops saw the escapees returning home. They never engaged the bandits during the attack to rescue the kidnapped victims.

“There are places that the bandits have established camps in the last four years and they are still there, they have not moved an inch.

“The security agencies have this information. The information given to them years ago is still very valid but they don’t make use of it.

If their problem is dearth of personnel, let them admit and collectively, we can sit down to address it. Unfortunately, there is a lack of synergy between the security agencies and the people who are more familiar with the terrain.”

The traditional ruler disclosed that despite a series of attacks on his domain, the bandits had no camp in Bungudu Local Government Area, where his domain is located.

He stated, “The truth is that the bandits don’t have a camp in Bungudu. Their camps are located in Maru Local Government Area, about one kilometre from our border.”

Attahiru also raised the alarm that if normalcy was not restored especially in areas facing insecurity, Zamfara, an agrarian state, might experience food shortage.

Meanwhile, 10 people were killed on Tuesday evening when bandits attacked Gobirawa and Sabawa villages in Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State.

Sources in the villages said the bandits stormed the two villages on about 150 motorcycles and started shooting sporadically.

They were also said to have burnt some houses and rustled some cattle in the process.

The spokesman for the Katsina Police Command, Gambo Isah, confirmed the incident on Wednesday.

Isah listed those killed as Umar Danbaba, Amadu Danliti,Mamuda Tinau, Saidu Yaro, Abubakar Nabau,Yakubu Danmagin and Abubakar Habule,all from Gobirawa village.

Others, he said, were Haro Mai, Audu Bagobiri and Surajo Joni of Sabawa village.

In Plateau State, two herdsmen identified as Mubarak Yakubu and Shehu Saidu were declared missing while 319 cows were also killed in latest attacks on Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.

Confirming the attacks in a statement made available to journalists in Jos on Wednesday, the spokesman for the State Police Command, Mr Mathias Tyopev, said 12 other cattle were also maimed while another 11 were rustled during the attack which occurred in Billi and Ariri villages, Miango District of the council area.