“What are they doing here” – Residents query military as bandits abduct 31 villagers in Niger state

In the wake of the recent abduction of 31 villagers in Jagaba village, Pandogari community, Niger State, residents are questioning the effectiveness of the military’s presence in the area.

Bandits, numbering over 50, reportedly targeted the village, and despite distress calls, locals claim that security forces were inactive during the attack.

The assailants, who struck around 11:00 p.m. on Thursday, fired shots into the air, creating a state of fear. While some villagers managed to escape, 31 individuals were abducted, and a middle-aged man was fatally shot for resisting the attackers.

The village is located just two kilometres from the Joint Security Taskforce camp stationed at Pandogari.

Residents reportedly made distress calls to the security taskforce, but there was allegedly no response. Additionally, local vigilantes who sought to intervene were reportedly prevented from doing so by the security forces, with no explanation provided for their actions.

“We alerted the security taskforce that there was an attack on the village and that people are being kidnapped, but they didn’t answer us. In fact, the local vigilantes wanted to go after the bandits, but these people (Security Taskforce) stopped them.

“We don’t know why they refused to take action and go after the people, and they equally stopped the local vigilantes from attacking the bandits. The question is that what are they doing here,” a source told Daily Sun.