Niger Insecurity: Hunters arrested for stealing recovered cows

Some local hunters employed by the Shiroro Local Government Council in Niger state to compliment the efforts of the security agents in the area in the ongoing war against gunmen have been arrested for alleged stealing some cows which were recovered from bandits.

They were arrested following the discovery that some of the cows that were recovered from bandits during an operation in Galape community in Shiroro local government were missing from where they being kept.

According to a security source close to the area, the local hunters who were employed by the Council to compliment the efforts of special hunters operating in the area, have successfully stole the cows, and had actually sold them in a local market in the area before they were apprehended.

It was reliably gathered that a woman spiritualist who was invited by the Council Chairman to come and help in a spiritual war against the bandits, had captured four Fulani herdsmen suspected to be bandits and recovered unspecified numbers of cows which were stolen by them.

The cows, it was further gathered, were brought to Galkogo village, the camp of the hunters for safe keeping as instructed by the woman spiritualist when the local hunters decided to help themselves with some.

The woman spiritualist was said to have instructed that those cows be kept under close watch till after the sallah break when she will start a full scale war against the bandits in the area as she intended to use those cows as point of contact and locate the hideout of the bandits.

It will be recalled that the woman spiritualist had carried out a number of spiritual war against the bandits in parts of the state, leading to the killing of scores of these bandits. The latest being the killing of scores of bandits in Nupe kingdom of Niger state.

All attempts to reach the Chairman of Shiroro local government, Mallam Suleiman Chukuba to confirm the story could not yield any result as all his mobile phones were switched off.

Meanwhile in another development, the state Commissioner for Local Government and Internal Security, Emmanuel Umar, has confirmed the killings of no fewer than 10 bandits in Uregi village in Rafi local government area of the state on Monday.

Seven motorcycles belonging to the bandits, including arms were also recovered from the bandits.

The Commissioner in a statement in Minna, said 14 kidnapped victims were rescued during the operation by the Joint Security TaskForce in the area.

According to the statement, bandits had wanted to disrupt the peaceful Eid-el-fitr celebration when the lunched an onslaught on Kawo and Uregi villages.

The Commissioner said “On 02/05/2022 at about 1700hrs, armed bandits on motorcycles attempted to attack Kawo, Uregi villages in Rafi LGA to disrupt Sallah celebration in the State, On the receipt of this information, joint security tactical teams responded swiftly and mobilized to the area where the hoodlums were engaged around Uregi, Kiribo villages and as a result, about ten bandits were neutralized, 14 kidnapped citizens were rescued and seven motorcycles recovered, including arms from them.” (Daily Sun)