Student Killed as Cattle Rustlers Again Attack Niger Village
By Laleye Dipo in Minna
A 19-year-old senior secondary school student has reportedly been shot dead by cattle rustlers who attack the Angwa Umadi village in the Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State yesterday morning.
Fifteen other members of the village were said to be seriously injured and were said to be receiving treatment at the Erena dispensary.
According one of the villagers, Isaiah Baga, the student who he did not name, came out at about 12.28a.m. yesterday to ease himself but unfortunately fell into the hands of the rustlers who were operating outside.
Baga said the invaders numbering about 40, operated for about one hour after which they went away with 212 cattle and a number of sheep and seven new motorcycles.
Baga said the attack came four days after some armed policemen came to patrol the area, adding that “we have reported the latest attack to the authorities but we are yet to hear from them.”
Senator representing Niger East senatorial district, David Umaru, had called on the state government and security agencies in the state to rise to their responsibilities by providing security for the lives and property of the people.
Umaru said his people were being exterminated and that many of them had fled their ancestral homes for fear of attack.
In an apparent response to the remarks of Umaru, the state government at the weekend, expressed its readiness and that of the security agencies in the state to tackle the upsurge in cases of kidnapping and cattle rustling in some parts of Rafi and Shiroro Local Government Areas.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, in a statement, stated that the government was worried by the activities of “people with questionable characters operating within the notorious Birni Gwari forest, Kaduna State which has bordered with the state.”
Vatsa said these criminals that had infiltrated
the state were those chased out from Zamafara State as a result of the ongoing military operation there, adding that the rustlers had infiltrated the state through the Birni Gwari axis to carry out their nefarious acts of kidnapping and cattle rustling.
The commissioner stated that to ensure the protection of lives and property, the government had mobilised security agencies to curb the trend but appealed to the people of the area to cooperate with the security agents by offering useful information that will lead to the arrest of “the criminals terrorising innocent people of the area” GOD HELP US