Laleye Dipo in Minna
Three villagers have been killed and scores of others rendered homeless as gunmen invaded communities in the Gulbinboka district of Mariga Local Government of Niger State.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Wednesday.
A report from the area indicates that several of the villagers who escaped to the mountain top during the invasion are still unable to come down for fear of being attacked.
The eyewitness said the bandits riding on over 90 motorcycles carrying assault rifles and other dangerous weapons also set on fire the houses of the villagers and their food bans.
The Councilor representing Gulbinboka Ward, Alhaji Isa Mohammed who confirmed the report said most of those kidnapped were women and children claiming that the security operatives are yet to arrive in the area.
Mohammed said those villagers on the mountain top are already facing food shortage and other essential commodities urging the government to come to their rescue.
The state government and the state police command have not reacted to the latest invasion by bandits.
However on Thursday, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, Mrs. Mary Noel Berje, disclosed while addressing newsmen in Minna, the state capital, that air raids on bandits ravaged communities in the state have begun assuring that peace will soon return to all the places frequently under the attack of insurgents.
Berje disclosed that: “The security situation in some communities in the state “has indeed remained a nightmare for the state government who has done and is still doing a lot in close collaboration with the military and other security agencies to reverse the trend.”
She said the high-level of insecurity in the state has also “ Inflicted severe sorrow, pains and displaced many of its citizens and also derailed the execution of some developmental projects and policies of the government.
“We must acknowledge the fact that the evil activities of these terrorists have brought setbacks in the actualisation of government projects such as the multi billion naira Bobi Grazing Reserve, road projects within the affected communities.”
