TheCable

Scores of residents in Zamfara have been reportedly kidnapped, following an attack on Rimi village in Bakura LGA, on Friday.

Ibrahim Dosara, Zamfara commissioner for information, confirmed the attack on Friday.

According to him, about 60 residents were said to have been kidnapped, but security agencies are yet to confirm the figure.

“This morning, we woke up to hear that bandits invaded Rimi village in Bakura LGA, abducting about 60 people, though it is not really confirmed,” he told TVC in an interview.

“Security agencies and government officials are working hard to ascertain the real number and other casualties involved.

“Bakura LGA, as a whole, is a kind of route for the bandits, leading to Dansadau, Birnin Gwari and other areas of Niger state.”

When contacted on the incident on Friday evening, Mohammed Shehu, Zamfara police spokesperson, did not respond to calls or text messages

The development comes hours after gunmen abducted some students and teachers from the College of Agriculture and Animal Health in Bakura, Zamfara.

According to Dosara, the state is hopeful that the persons abducted from the college will be released within the next 48 hours.

“In all honesty and sincerity, government of Zamfara state, in conjunction with the security agencies are making all efforts to ensure that the abducted students and their staff are released. We are hoping that between now and two days to come, the students will be released by the bandits,” the commissioner said.

“I’ll like people to realise that over some months, there has been mass reduction in the  activities of the bandits in Zamfara state in particular, and in some parts of the north. But of recent, these activities of the bandits have resurged, just because of the intense operations of the military who promised to take the fight to the enclaves of the bandits.

“If you recall, last week, four of the bandits’ leaders were killed in the forest near Maradun LGA, and another set of bandits’ leaders were killed three days ago, near a forest in Dansadau.

“That is to show you how the military is now seriously fighting the bandits, and that is why they are in a kind of rampage to destabilise the peace and security of our communities.”