Suspected armed bandits kidnapped a businesswoman in Tegina, Rafi local government area, Niger state, on Saturday, vowing to return to the city soon.
The kidnapped woman, Rabi Usman, is a popular local businesswoman who runs many businesses in the city, including a bakery.
Residents said that a large gang of armed bandits broke into the town at around 11:30 pm and headed straight for Ms. Usman’s residence in the upper town of Tegina.
Tegina is the same city where 136 students from the Islamiyya Salihu Tanko Islamiyya school were kidnapped on May 30 last year.
Ninety of the students were released three months later, on August 26, after their parents reportedly paid 60 million naira and five new motorcycles as ransom.
Weeks after the May 30 incident, the bandits returned to the community and kidnapped four people from a water factory opposite the Government Secondary School, Tegina.
The four victims include a health worker identified as Sani Garba and the owner of the water factory, Bako BK.
The other victims are the factory manager, Kasimu Lawan, and one of his workers, Mas’udu Ibrahim.
The health worker, Mr. Garba, was the officer in charge of immunization in the Rafi local government area.
Mr. Garba was killed by his captors after a ransom of N8 million was collected for his release. Mr. BK, the owner of the water factory, was luckier as he was released for a ransom of N6 million, a motorcycle and five Java techno phones.
In the latest incident, residents said the bandits, believed to belong to the same criminal syndicate terrorizing the city, vowed to return for all of the community’s wealthy residents.
Locals said the bandits, after Saturday’s attack, left a verbal message that they had the list of wealthy residents and would return for them.
An official from the city’s road transport union, Bello Muhammad, said the message has caused panic among residents.
Muhammad appealed to the state government to deploy a joint security team to protect the city.
“The bandits, numbering around 25, after kidnapping Ms. Usman, stole their neighbors’ smartphones.
“One of them tried to steal a cow from a compound, but his leader reprimanded him because it wasn’t part of his mission for the day,” Muhammad told PREMIUM TIMES.
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Niger State Government Secretary Ahmad Matane, who coordinates security activities for the state government, told PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday morning that he had not yet been briefed on the incident.
Police spokesman in the state, Wasiu Abiodun, did not respond to phone calls from the reporter for comment on the incident.
Attacks by armed groups have continued in the northwest and the state of Niger despite repeated assurances from the government to address the challenge.
President Muhammadu Buhari recently ordered the army to respond firmly to killings and kidnappings by bandits in Niger state.
Authorities said more than 151,380 people, mostly peasants, have been displaced in the state by bandit activities in the past two years.
The displaced were registered in 13 local government areas, with the Rafi council area, neighboring Zamfara, where Tegina is located, topping the table with 28,987 displaced.