Panic As Bandits Kill 13 In Sokoto & Taraba States

Panic As Bandits Kill 13 In Sokoto & Taraba States

Some bandits in Sokoto State on Tuesday evening attacked Balle in the Guru Local Government Area and killed the district head, Alhaji Ibrahim Aliyu, aged 82.

The Sokoto State Police Command spokesman, DSP Muhammad Sadiq, said, “The Commissioner of Police was at Balle, and I promise to get back to all of you when I get verified information.”

But a member of the state House of Assembly representing the area, Faruk Balle, confirmed the attack.

Another source also said the bandits, who stormed the town on motorcycles, around 4pm on Tuesday also killed an unidentified man in the Karfen Sarki area.

A youth corps member, serving in the Gudu LGA, who spoke to The PUNCH on condition of anonymity said, “Gudu is a border town with porous illegal entry points that bandits can easily take advantage of.”

In Taraba State, residents of Murbai, Kisbap, Sembe and Yawai – Abbare villages in the Ardo-Kola and Jalingo local government areas on Wednesday said 11 people were killed and scores injured when armed Fulani gunmen invaded their villages.

The villages are on the outskirts of Jalingo, the state capital.

One of the residents, Cyprian Kamai said trouble started four days ago in Yawai village when a Fulani herdsman invaded the farm of a resident.

According to Kamai, when the farmer tried to stop the Fulani man’s cows from grazing on his farm, the herdsman inflicted machete cuts on him.

He said efforts by the community leaders to address the issue failed as the Fulani herdsmen attacked Murbai, Kisbap and other villages.

A resident, Mrs Rebecca Awoshiri, told one of our correspondents at Nukkai internally displaced persons’ camp that five people were killed at Murbai while six lost their lives at Sembe village.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, David Misal, who confirmed the attack, said six people were killed and scores displaced in the attacks which began on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Sultan of Soloko-led Jama’atul Nasril Islam has lamented the worsening poverty and banditry in the country.

The JNI’s Secretary-General, Dr Khalid Abubakar-Aliyu, in a statement on Wednesday, also urged benevolent Muslims to assist the needy.

Also, the Senate, as part of the solutions to kidnappings on the Abuja-Kaduna Road, on Wednesday called on the Nigerian Railway Corporation to increase coaches on the Abuja-Kaduna Rail Line.

The Senate, at its plenary on Wednesday hinged its call on the large number of passengers using the train following the increase in cases of kidnapping on the Abuja-Kaduna Road. The lawmakers also asked the NRC to increase the frequency of train trips on the line.

[Story Credit: Leke Baiyewu, Adeniyi Olugbemi, Justin Tyopuusu and Godwin Isenyo, Punch NG]