Terrorists on Wednesday invaded Shadadi village in Mariga Local Government Area, Niger State, North-central Nigeria, where they killed eight villagers and abducted about 100 others.
BBC Hausa reported that hundreds of the residents have currently fled their homes and moved to Kontagora, a town in Niger city, to save their lives.
According to them, the terrorists stormed the village on hundreds of motorcycles and started shooting on arrival killing many and abducting a hundred others.
One of the residents who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the terrorists killed eight and injured four before the abduction of others.
Sani Idris, the Niger State Commissioner for Information, confirmed the attack but said the abducted persons were less than 100.
Idris said the state authorities were yet to finish counting the number of the abducted persons and they have sought assistance from the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The recent attack came on the day 27 abducted students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State, Northwest Nigeria, were released by terrorists who abducted them from their school over a month ago.
Abubakar Bello, Governor of Niger State, had confirmed the presence of Boko Haram elements in his state saying they have taken over Kauri. He said the terrorists had hoisted their flags in the community which is just two hours away from Nigeria’s capital Abuja.
“I just heard that they have already placed their flag in Kauri which means they have taken over the territory and this is what we have been engaging the Federal Government with and unfortunately it has now gotten to this stage that if care is not taken nobody is safe, not even Abuja is safe,” Bello told journalists in a recent interview.
Several people have blamed the Federal Government for the heightened insecurity in the country who, according to them, is doing little to protect the citizens. The replacement of Service Chiefs with new ones didn’t work as many people thought it would as the insecurity escalates.
The National Assembly is expected to meet with the Service Chiefs Thursday to pressure them to work hard in responding to the security situation in the country.