Bandits kill traditional ruler in Katsina

Bandits in the wee hours of Monday morning, shot and killed a traditional ruler, the Hakimin Garin Yantumaki, Alhaji Atiku Maidabino in Danmusa Local Government Area of Katsina State.

The bandits, said to to be Fulani herdsmen, stormed the Yantumaki community at about 12:30 am on motorcycles and headed straight to the monarch’s home.

It was learnt that they broke into his home while everyone was fast asleep, and after searching and finding him, shot him severally at close range.

It was gathered that upon completing their nefarious act, the bandits then left the community in a hurry on their motorcycles.

Sources said the bandits were in their numbers and had come into the community from the neighbouring dreaded forest where several of them are known to operate from.

His body was said to have been deposited at the Danmusa General Hospital and would be buried later on Monday according to Islamic rites.

The incident comes less than 24 hours after bandits also shot and killed the chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Batsari council area, Abdulhamid Mamman.

The state like most others in the Northwest geopolitical zone has witnessed an increase in activities of bandits in recent months, with several lives and properties lost in the process.

Due to the frequent cases of the attacks, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a major military operation in the state and elsewhere, to tackle the activities of the bandits.

Governor Aminu Masari said the military operation had seen military personnel, including Nigeria Air Force (NAF), go into parts of the forest in the state where they had never gone before.

Masari said the operation had recorded some successes, including neutralizing bandits and recovery of assorted weapons, and that he hoped the issue of banditry would soon become a thing of the past.

Spokesman for the police command in the state, SP Gambo Isah us yet to respond to an inquiry made in the latest incident.