MORE than 1000 residents of Kwari village have reportedly fled their homes and are taking refuge in a primary school in Jibiya town, the headquarters of Jibiya Local Government Area of Katsina State, following an attack by bandits.
It was reported that over 80 villagers were kidnapped by the bandits who also set food barns and local shops on fire.
According to the report, the victims include children and women.
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Speaking in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service on Thursday, one of the women who escaped the onslaught said over 2000 villagers have been displaced by the bandits.
“They came with full force at 5.30 pm and invaded us, we were not aware of their coming. They opened fire, shot sporadically and burnt down shops and our food barns,” the unnamed woman told BBC Hausa Service.
“They kidnapped people, men and women, little children who cannot even talk. They took them to the forest. They took about 80 people to the forest. We did a head count later, we found that about 80 of our people were taken away by the bandits. They are these Bush Fulanii people. They even took pregnant women away,” she added.
The villagers who ran away are taking refuse in a primary school in another town, according to the woman.
She added that the situation is tough for the displaced villagers as most of them sleep on bare ground.
“We are here lying down in a humiliating manner. Not even mats to lie on.We are all lying on the bare ground. When the bandits left, we looked and found out that those taken away were up to 80. In some houses they took five, 10 and took them to the forest. Even our little children,” she said.
She alleged that the authorities have not rendered any assistance to them since the bandits invaded the village.
“Truly, we are in need of help. We need assistance because we are in a pitiable condition. Some husbands don’t know where their wives are; some wives cannot find their husbands. Children cannot find their mothers, some mothers don’t know where their children are,” she said.
However, BBC’s efforts to reach SP Gambo Isa, spokesperson of the Katsina Police Command concerning the attack proved abortive.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M