By Yemi Monday
Two traditional rulers, the village heads of Balma and Mai Anguwan Bakutunbe as well as two other persons have been kidnapped by yet to be identified gunmen in in Ningi Local Government Area (LGA) of Bauchi State.
Sources said that the two separate incidents occurred within hours at the two villages between late Saturday to early Sunday morning.
It was reported that the gunmen stormed and attacked the two villages where they kidnapped the traditional rulers of the villages and shot one person dead.
A resident of Balma town revealed that the incident happened in the early hours of Sunday and that the fully armed men stormed Balma town around 11:00pm on Saturday and went directly to the Sarki’s house, firing indiscriminately as people ran for cover.
When they took the Sarki and left, they found one Alhaji Haruna Dan OC lying with gun shot wound to the neck. He was rushed to Ningi General Hospital where he was confirmed dead.
Also, on Saturday night, they stormed and kidnapped another person at the Bakutunbe, the neighborhood leader, Idris Mai Unguwa and a man named Ya’u Gandu Maliya, about 45 years old, who the kidnappers have already demanded the sum of N8 million each as ransom.
In addition, last week, two Fulani men, Alhaji Malami in Ware Ware village and Alhaji Buba Kwancikwaniya in Yelwa village were kidnapped in the same Ningi LGA.
Sources noted that there has been increasing activities of kidnappers in the area and there seems to be little to show for curtailing of criminal activities in the area by security operatives.
When contacted him, the Acting Chairman of Ningi Local Government, Ibrahim Zubairu, confirmed the incident and testified that the traditional ruler of Balma was sitting with people in his palace in Balma when the three kidnappers came to the palace and took him away.
Ibrahim Zubairu added that he was assured that the kidnappers went to the town in a car, and in it they took the Sarki away.
He said that one of the victims, Alh Haruna Dan OC, came back on his motorcycle and was going to enter his house when the kidnappers saw him and shot him, which is why he lost his life.
He urged the people of the local government to continue praying for peace and to cooperate with the security forces in order to achieve peace in the area and explained that the local government has already informed the report of the incident to the relevant authorities to take action.
He also said that at the local government level, they have taken action to ensure that the military officers in Jimi town are returned to reduce the occurrence of these acts of terrorism.
The Bauchi State Police Command confirmed the story on Sunday through its PPRO, SP Ahmed Wakili who spoke to Our Correspondent vide phone conversation, Sunday evening.
According to him: “The Command received report from the Balma outstation in Ningi LGA that some unknown gunmen stormed the village shooting sporadically and took away the village head, one Alh Hussaini Saleh who is 48 years old to unknown destination.
“One Haruna Jibrin was shot on the head by the gunmen. When the Police received the distress call, a team of Police men were drafted to the scene and rescued the victim and took him to the General Hospital, Ningi where he is currently receiving treatment.”
Ahmed Wakili however said: “But I learnt that some are saying that unconfirmed though, whether he is dead or alive. I will still get back to you after clearing with the DPO, I was trying to get across to him to get the fact of the story since he not has told me that the victim has died or not, I cannot confirm that to you.”
He concluded saying, “but presently, the Police in Ningi division is combing the the bush trying to see how they can rescue the abducted village head and other victims.”