Gunmen kill village head, kidnap four family members in Niger

Gunmen suspected to be armed bandits have allegedly killed the village head of Gusasai community, Alhaji Abu in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State.

The bandits were also said to have abducted his wife, two daughters and a male from his family.

The incident , it was gathered, occurred between 12am-1am on Wednesday in the area.

It was learnt the bandits stormed the community in their numbers, shooting sporadically into the air which created panic in the villagers.

Malam Abubakar, a member of the community, said the armed bandits stormed the area on Wednesday night and went straight to the deceased’s home and shot him in the presence of his family members in an operation that lasted about 30 minutes.

He explained that after killing the village head, they whisked four of his family members that comprised his wife, two children and a male, adding that no family member has been contacted by the gunmen for ransom.

According to him, “The truth is that we cannot really say what our brother did to deserve what happened. Last year, the boy that rear his cattle was accused of being a member of a cattle rustling gang that was involved in rustling cattle. As a result of this, the village head and the boy were arrested and he was forced to pay the sum of N1m to clear himself from the situation and afterwards, he disengaged the boy from working for him.

“However, strangely, residents of the community noticed the presence of the boy who left the area almost a year ago with some other persons and the next day, the village was killed. The gunmen went straight to his house, killed him and carried away four of his family members without touching any other person.”

However, efforts to get the reaction of the state Police command Public Relations Officer, PRO, DSP Wasiu Abiodun failed as he is yet to get back to our correspondent as at the time of filing this report