Terrorists Raid Communities In Northwest Nigeria, Abduct District Head, Over 80 Others

A District Head, Nafiu Shehu and his royal housemaid, Ashiru Umar were on Sunday, Aug. 22 abducted by terrorists at his palace in Adabka, a town in Bukuyum Local Government Area of Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria. 

A resident of Adabka village who spoke to  HumAngle said “the abduction which took place around 12 a.m. came barely a week after personnel deployed to a unit of police outpost attached to the area were withdrawn from the village.”

Sani Dahiru Adabka, a lawmaker in the State Assembly representing the area expressed dissatisfaction over the withdrawal of the police officers from the village.

“I must express my dissatisfaction over the unwise withdrawal of the entire police unit from the villages. I paid a visit to the Zamfara State Police Commissioner at his office in Gusau, where I complained about the decision,” the lawmaker told HumAngle. 

Meanwhile, another group of terrorists on Monday, Aug. 23 attacked the Goran-Namahe community in Maradun LGA of the state following a letter to the residents by the terrorists announcing their coming.

According to local sources, at least 10 persons were killed and over 80 abducted by the terrorists during the attack that took place from 1:15 a.m. And 5 a.m.

“The attackers arrived in our village around 1:15am with their three  Hilux vans  and  over 50 motorcycles. In fact, no one can tell their exact number,” Sani Ahmed Gora, a resident of Gora village said.

Ashiru Ibrahim, also a resident of the area, told HumAngle’s reporter that, “the terrorists conducted a house-to-house operation, taking two, three, five, seven or  four persons in each house they invaded from around 1 a.m. till 5 a.m. on Monday.”

“Up to this moment, we cannot say the exact number of our people that  have been kidnapped. But we are still identifying the victims across all the houses in Goran-Namahe. The figure we reached for now is that 80 people are confirmed abducted and 10 were  killed,” Ibrahim revealed. 

But Muhammad Musa, District Head of the area (Sarkin Kayan Goran-Namahe), who narrowly escaped the terrorists’ attack,  said “my two wives, three sons including over 80 villagers are already with the terrorists.”

“We are calculating and putting up the numbers to understand the last figure of the abducted persons.”

4 persons abducted in Luga village

Four persons were also abducted and many valuables were carted away by a group of terrorists that attacked Lugga village, in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

Yusuf Muhammad Kadauri, a resident of Kadauri, who visits Lugga regularly informed HumAngle of the attack.

The attack came a few hours after some terrorists  invaded three communities of Dangurunfa, Masamar Mudi and Mallamawa areas of Bukkuyum Local Government where they killed eight persons and abducted an unknown number of people.

Attack on Shinkafi commutters

Seven passengers in a commercial bus moving from Sokoto to Shinkafi town were abducted by terrorists suspected to be loyal to notorious terror leader, Halilu Kachalla.

Kachalla’s group is believed to be one of those operating around Shinkafi, Bakura, Maradun, Isa and Sabon-Birni Local Government areas of Zamfara and Sokoto states.

According to Abubakar Sulaiman,  who is from Shinkafi town “the group kidnapped seven  passengers and killed one in the process.” 

“I ran into the bush when they attacked us. But my Oga Bello Shinkafi, our truck driver, was kidnapped along with those in the other Golf car,” one of the passengers who escaped the attack but pleaded anonymity for his safety told HumAngle. 

“This happened around 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm on Saturday, at Sokoto-Shinkafi road. The terrorists matched all the victims into their territorial base in-between Tubali village and other surrounding villages within the forest of Galadi Ward, Shinkafi.”

HumAngle learnt that Bello Shinkafi, the  driver who was kidnapped along with the seven persons, was immediately released a few hours after their abduction. 

A local source told this HumAngle that “Alhajin Moriki, a renowned businessman in Shinkafi facilitated the release of the kidnapped driver, Bello Shinkafi, using his connection with the terrorists of the area.”

The source added that Alhajin Moriki is a master of the truck driver. 

Muhammad Shehu, the spokesperson of Zamfara State Police Command was not immediately available for comment.