Police Debunk Reports on Sacking of 16 Communities in Kaduna …Say affected communities fled on their own

The Kaduna State Police Command on Tuesday dismissed reports that bandits have sacked 16 communities in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

According to reports, the 16 communities were attacked at about 1 p.m. last Sunday leading to the displacement of about 2,000 who took refuge at the LEA Primary School in Birnin Yero.

The reports quoted one Mallam Jibrin Abdullahi, the village head of Unguwan Gibe, said to be one of the victims of the attacks, as saying that “the bandits came to our village to attack us at about 1 p.m. on Sunday.

“The problems started when vigilance group decided to help the community to deal with the bandits in their hideout.

“The bandits don’t allow us to go to farm, so the vigilante wanted to bring an end to this, but when they reached the bandits hideout they were overpowered, and the bandits then declared that since the community have decided to attack them we will have no peace.”

But speaking in a telephone interview, spokesman of the state police command, Yakubu Sabo, said no village was attack by bandits, rather, the villagers fled their homes for fear of reprisal from the bandits.

Sabo said members of the vigilance group in the communities mobilised themselves and had gone to launch an onslaught on the bandits in their hideout without informing the police, but unfortunately, the vigilante members were overpowered by the bandits.

He said three members of the group are either missing or killed as they were yet to return home.

According to Sabo, the villagers became apprehensive for fear of reprisal from the bandits and fled their homes to take refuge at the LEA Primary School in Birnin-Yero, along the Kaduna-Zaria expressway.

Sabo said: “The true story is that some members of the vigilance group in the community mobilised themselves without reporting to the police and moved to a suspected hideout for the bandits in Karewa community near Birnin Yero.

“They went to launch an onslaught on the bandits, however, the bandits overpowered them, and so three or four members of the vigilante were missing. Some people said they were killed, but we cannot confirm until we see their corpses.

“Communities around that area feared that the bandits may come for revenge, bearing in mind that the vigilante members had launched an attack on them.

“The Kaduna State Police Command has deployed a team of police men, including mobile policemen, to trail the bandits as well as fortify security around the area, so that people will have confidence to return to their settlements.”