22 residents have reportedly been kidnapped by bandits in two new, distinct attacks in the Kitanda village of Geshere, Kumana Chiefdom, and the Kugauta community of Kusheka, Kumana Chiefdom, in the Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
In a phone chat with the media, Emmanuel Johnson, a resident, and a student pastor verified the incident.
He added that at around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, the attackers launched separate attacks into the two settlements, capturing 22 residents, primarily women and children.
He clarified that ten residents were also taken away in the Kugauta village of Kusheka, Kumana Chiefdom, and twelve residents were abducted in the Kitanda community of Geshere, Kumana Chiefdom.
Johnson bemoaned the fact that just three police officers were patrolling their hamlet and the nearby villages, despite the fact that kidnappings by bandits and other criminal elements were becoming more frequent in their areas.
He claimed that villagers are being abducted every day and that attacks on their towns and neighboring villages have been ongoing.
“The police officers manning our communities cannot secure our Villages; the Government must show us that we’re Nigerians and we have equal rights to be protected by the Nigerian Government authorities.
“Most locals were forced to leave their villages as a result of the escalating kidnapping and killings of our loved ones.
“Over N60 million have been paid as ransom while many are still in the kidnappers’ custody,” Johnson disclosed.
“We’re facing an infrastructural deficit, in terms of roads network, hospitals and schools, adding we hardly can take our farm produce to the market because of the nature of the roads here”, he said.
According to him, the state of affairs in their individual communities is concerning, and the government needs to take the ongoing issues of insecurity in the regions seriously.
“The army, NAF, and other sister security agencies must conduct offensive operations to flush these bandits terrorizing our communities out of those camps.
“These bandits have meted all kinds of hardship on our people, crippling our economy and plunging us into abject poverty,” he added.
As of the time this report was filed, DSP Mansir Hassan, the Kaduna State Police Public Relations Officer, had not returned calls or texts.
He urged the government to set up army forward operating bases and police stations in key locations, emphasizing that this would help address the growing insecurity that plagues our surroundings on a daily basis.