On Saturday night, soldiers backed by vigilantes rescued a politician and his relatives after they engaged bandits in a shootout that killed “several bandits.”
Sources in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state, told PREMIUM TIMES by phone that the politician, Aminu Adamu, had been kidnapped from his home in the city’s Mareri neighborhood.
Mr. Adamu, popularly known as Papa, is the Managing Director of the Zamfara State Transport Authority and a close ally of the Governor Beautiful Matawalle.
A resident of the area, Zayyanu Muhammad, told this reporter that the bandits arrived on their motorcycles and raided the Mareri neighborhood, where Mr. Adamu lives with his family.
“Dad was not the target. It was the lawyer Hafiz Sufyan who was targeted, but he was not at home. It was around 12:30 am and even when they entered dad’s house, they kept asking about the whereabouts of his neighbor, lawyer Hafiz Sufyan, but he told them that he was not in the city. They said they were told Barrister was home.
“Then they took him and his relatives away. By this time, people in the area had informed the vigilantes on the main thoroughfare, who confronted the bandits,” he said.
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Muhammad added that the vigilantes chased the bandits out of the neighborhoods, forcing them to release the politician’s two wives and children and flee with him.
Another source, who lives in the area, Ashafa Sani, said he heard heavy gunshots as the soldiers clashed with the bandits.
“I was watching movies around 1am when I started hearing loud gunshots. He was terrifying, but thanks to Allah, the man has been saved,” he said.
Dani said Adamu was shot twice in the leg during the shooting and was taken to the hospital.
“I think that when the soldiers arrived and it was obvious that they had cornered them, the bandits decided to kill Dad because they shot him twice in the leg. The soldiers rescued him and took him to the hospital. I was at the hospital this afternoon to see him because he is my neighbor,” he said.
Muhammad said that many bandits were killed, including a woman.
“Their bodies are in the Federal Medical Center, Gusau. I saw the corpses, they were all young. We were told that only two of the bandits escaped,” he added.
Kudos to our military men. This is good news. Keep it up, the bandits must be crushed.