Soldiers, police foil separate attacks in Kaduna
Kamarudeen Ogundele, Balarabe Alkassim (Abuja), Abubakar Auwal (Sokoto), Misbahu Bashir, Olatunji Omirin (Maiduguri) & Mohammed I. Yaba (Kaduna)
Bandits have struck again in Sokoto kidnapping 11 persons, among them a Chief Imam, Aminu Garba, who was preparing to lead Juma’at congregational prayer at Gatawa Village in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of the state.
The Imam was kidnapped along with three others on Friday.
The kidnapping occurred on a day a high-powered delegation headed by the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Ali Monguno (retd.), visited the state on a fact-finding mission.
Before then, bandits had on Monday ambushed a vehicle at Gidan Bawa Village in the same local government, set it on fire and watched 23 passengers burn to death.
Two passengers who survived later died of the injuries sustained in the attack.
The assailants also yesterday blocked Sabon Birni-Gatawa Road, shot three persons and kidnapped seven others.
The member representing Sabon Birni South constituency in the state assembly, Sa’idu Ibrahim, who confirmed the attack, said the injured persons were receiving treatment at a hospital in Wamakko.
He said the leg of another woman who was shot at Dama Village was amputated because it could not be fixed.
When contacted, the spokesman of the Sokoto Police Command, ASP Sanusi Abubakar, said he would contact the officer in charge of the area and get back to our reporter.
He had yet to do so as of press time.
A former governor of Sokoto State, Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa has berated President Buhari over his failure to pay a condolence visit to the state after the killing and burning of travellers by bandits.
He said the president was treating the lives of the people that elected him as worthless.
Speaking to BBC Hausa Service on Saturday, Bafarawa expressed his disappointment over Buhari’s failure to address the growing insecurity and killings in Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina states.
He said Sabon Birni, Shinkafi and Goronyo were in a dire situation.
“We only depend on God for protection. It is only on God that we depend for his protection, not anybody.
“We are sad and disappointed with the way Buhari’s administration is treating our region. I was governor for eight years and I know the responsibilities placed on me when I was the governor.
“The saying that security is everybody’s business is true, but the onus rests with the leader, like President Muhammadu Buhari who swore with the Qur’an to protect their lives,” he said.
All about your inner self 