Gunmen attack Katsina community, kill lawmaker’s uncle, kidnap newlyweds

Armed men on Monday killed one person and abducted a newly wedded couple in Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State.

Residents said the incidents occurred at Rumka community when the community was attacked by the armed men. The slain victim, Sama’ila Supa, is an uncle to a lawmaker representing Safana in the Katsina State House of Assembly.

The lawmaker, Abduljalal Haruna, told PREMIUM TIMES that his uncle, Mr Supa, was killed by the gunmen when he resisted attempts to kidnap him.

“All these are happening despite the presence of security personnel in the area where my uncle was killed. The distance between (the location of the security officials) is approximately five kilometres to where the gunmen operated freely,” Mr Haruna said.

The lawmaker said kidnapping is almost a daily nightmare for residents of communities in Safana Local Government Area.

“Last night at Babban Duhu Community, they abducted 13 people but seven of the abductees later escaped and returned home, many others were shot, they are currently responding to treatment at the hospital,” the lawmaker added.

The slain Mr Supa was buried on Monday.

While delivering a funeral tribute to the deceased, the deputy imam of Izala Mosque in Rumka community, Umar Yakubu, admonished leaders to take responsibility and defend the lives of citizens.

He said the government needs to do more as citizens are being killed at will; urging residents to rise in self-defence against the gunmen.

“It’s better to die while defending yourself than to fold your hands watching them killing you. We will all die when the time comes, even without you being killed. We will all account for our deeds on the day of resurrection,” the Imam said.

Abducted couple

Residents said the couple were abducted on Monday, about a week after their wedding ceremony.

A resident identified the groom as Sama’ila Abdullahi and named the bride as Zainab Isma’il.

He said the gunmen are yet to contact members of their families for ransom.

When contacted, the police spokesperson for Katsina State, Gambo Isah, told PREMIUM TIMES that security agents are doing their best to secure the vulnerable communities.

Mr Isah said the gunmen attack several communities at once in coordinated attacks making it difficult to repel all the attacks.

He said residents of such communities should also cooperate with the police to identify informants and sympathisers of the bandits in their communities.

The security agents are doing their best and successfully repelling many attacks across the state, the police spokesperson said.

Katsina is one of the North-west states most affected by bandits attacks. The attacks, which have gotten worse in the past few years have led to the murder of hundreds of people and kidnap of many more.

The attacks have continued despite the heavy deployment of military and paramilitary operatives to the areas.