A recent bandit attack that claimed the lives of soldiers in Niger State has left residents shaken and fearful about their safety.

FIJ learned the bandits raided Kundu, Akare and Girin villages in the Wushishi Local Government Area of the state over the weekend and the military engaged them in a shootout that resulted in deaths.

A resident of another community in the LGA called Zungeru, who does not wish to be named, told FIJ that the bandits started raiding the villages on Friday and were at the axis for about two days.

“People ran and scattered upon hearing the arrival of the bandits. Some of the villagers were working on their farmlands when the raid began on Friday,” said the source.

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THE BANDITS ALWAYS COME FOR CATTLE

“The bandits, often in hundreds (as people say, though I’ve never encountered them), always come for the villagers’ cattle,” the source further disclosed to FIJ.

While he could not ascertain the reason for this, he said there were chances that the bandits would sell off the cows they steal from villagers. He, however, added that villagers are sometimes killed and kidnapped during the invasions.

“The bandits came across the villages but couldn’t get cattle. This was so because upon hearing of the bandits, the villagers packed their cattle to a distant location.

“So, the bandits kept going down to the villages until they caught up with the villagers and raided their cows. They were in the Kundu- Akare-Girin axis for like two days.

“They were going back to Kundu so they could return to where they came from, but the army were already at that junction. The bandits and soldiers clashed and people on both sides lost their lives.

“The bodies of the soldiers who were killed were brought into Federal Medical Centre, Zungeru.”

WHY THE ATTACKS KEEP HAPPENING

Since the bandits often move in large numbers, they can be easily spotted before they reach their targeted villages. But the source said informants are emboldening the bandits.

“The informers always tell or guide the insurgents to where the cattle are because their main aim is the cattle. After they get a good number of cattle, they begin to withdraw from the villages. Sometimes they kill innocent people they encounter, but their goal is always the cattle.”

Also, according to the source, the lack of stationary security personnel on the ground to handle the insurgents before their invasion poses another security risk for villagers.

He said there used to be a good number of mobile police officers in Kundu and things were getting better until the officers were redeployed.

“I don’t really know where they were redeployed to, plus I can’t remember the exact year, but let’s say like two to three years ago.”

RESIDENTS ARE FED UP

FIJ gathered from the source that there was an attack in the area before the last Eid celebration and the security agencies seem incapable of stopping the attacks.

“The residents are fed up,” the source said. “And we need permanent security personnel in that axis.

While he confirmed that there is a police station in the community, he opined that it clearly can’t handle the bandits. He shared the same sentiment about the local vigilantes. “They can’t even halt their movement, let alone handle them,” he said.

This source apparently believes that only soldiers can combat and suppress the bandit attacks on these villages.

“The military intervention was okay, but they had to come in from either Minna or Kontagora because there is no barrack or any large military outpost nearby,” he said.

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In response to this reporter’s inquiry on how it feels to live in a community that is susceptible to attack, he said, “As a resident of Zungeru, I am deeply concerned because it doesn’t feel safe. Although no bandits have raided Zungeru like the other villages, most of the communities around Zungeru are hot zones.

“Kundu, which is a village on its own, has been the gate pass into more vulnerable areas, and to tell you the closeness of Kundu to Zungeru, some might think Kundu is part of Zungeru. We are afraid of the attacks because of our closeness to Kundu and other vulnerable communities.”

Abatta is a reporter with FIJ, in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.