Army, police, vigilantes kill two bandits in Kebbi, Katsina

Helpless Kaduna farmers bargain with terrorists, says BEPU

Kebbi State Police Command has neutralised one of the bandits that invaded Tiggi Village in Augie Local Council of Kebbi State.

A statement signed by the command’s spokesman, SP Nafiu Abubakar, yesterday, in Birnin Kebbi, noted that the feat was achieved with the help of credible information.

According to him, the tip revealed that on August 21, 2022, at about 3:00 a.m., bandits in their numbers invaded Tiggi.

He added that based on the report, the police tactical team, in collaboration with the army and local vigilantes, was mobilised to the scene to engage the bandits.

The Guardian gathered that as a result of a gun duel, one of the bandits was neutralised and many others escaped with gun wounds, leaving one AK-47 rifle behind.

The Commissioner of Police (CP), Ahmed Kontagora, reiterated the command’s readiness to secure the border communities and the state in general against banditry.

He appealed to the Kebbi people to continue in their support and cooperation with the police and other security agencies to reduce crimes in the state.

SIMILARLY, Katsina State Police Command has said its personnel engaged terrorists in a gunfire exchange and killed one of them at Maizuma village in Danja Local Council of the state.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Gambo Isah, stated, yesterday, that the incident occurred on Saturday at about 7:30 a.m.

The statement added that one of the terrorists was suspected to have fled the scene with gunshot wounds, while a suspected informant was arrested in the process.

Items recovered after the shoot-out include a locally-fabricated gun, military camouflage, machetes, and substances suspected to be Indian hemp, among others.

IN Kaduna State, helpless farmers have reportedly bargained with terrorists, so they could be allowed to cultivate their farms.

Birnin-Gwari Emirate Progressives Union (BEPU), in a statement at the weekend, painted a gloomy situation of the farmers helplessly negotiating with the bandits to enable them to access their farmland.

Chairman of BEPU, Ishaq Kasai, explained how farmers in various communities in Birnin Gwari Local Council became so helpless and resorted to negotiating with armed bandits.

“The armed bandits have been contacting these communities for negotiations for about three years now, to no avail until all hopes for help from the government were lost,” Kasai said.

“In the last three years, farming in Birnin-Gwari has been seriously crippled whereby about 70 per cent of farmlands were not accessible by farmers. In many Communities in the area, farmers have paid millions of naira individually and in groups before they were allowed to access their farmlands. This has continued up to present in some communities,” they said.