An angry mob in Tangaza town attacked the Tangaza Divisional Police headquarters in Sokoto state, killed 13 suspected bandits and burnt them to ashes.
A report from the area indicated that the suspected bandits were said to be among those that attacked the town Friday evening, killing two people.
The report also said the bandits had, during the attack, carted away some foodstuff and other valuables which were later recovered.
It would be recalled some gunmen had September last year killed the Tangaza DPO and another inspector.
Youth, security agents collaborate
But after ransacking the town, the suspected bandits forced two young boys of the area to carry their looted items into the bush and thereafter killed them.
Sources said soon after the heinous act, people of the area mobilised themselves and joined security operatives attached to the area to trail the bandits in the bush where they arrested 13 of the bandits and brought them to the police station.
Upon handing over the suspected hoodlums, the mob, in anger, overpowered the police personnel on duty, killed the suspects and set them ablaze.
An indigene of the area who craved anonymity, said, “residents of the area are now at alert for any reprisal.”
Spokesman of the Sokoto state Police Command, ASP Sanusi Abubakar confirmed the attack.
IPMAN pledges support
Meanwhile, the Sokoto state branch of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has pledged its total support to the state government in its effort at tackling the security challenges.
Speaking at the IMPAN stakeholders’ meeting held Sunday at Sokoto Guest Inn, chairman of the association, Alhaji Abubakar Usman said the measures taken by the government were in the best interest of all
He noted that the security challenges currently plaguing business activities in the state concerned everybody and “we must give our maximum support to contain it.
“We want assure the government and people of Sokoto state that henceforth no filling station will flout the government order.”
He said the association would not hesitate to handover any member found flouting the order to the appropriate authority for prosecution.
“As part of the discipline, we would report to him the NNPC depot in Gusau to stop supplying PMS to his filing station and also report him to the appropriate authority,” the chairman explained
Also speaking, the state commissioner of commerce, Alhaji Bashir Gidado expressed confidence that the measures taken by the government would yield fruitful result, saying the bandits in the bush had started crying of hunger.
Kogi
Also, some bandits terrorising some parts of Kogi local government area of Kogi state met their waterloo as officers of the state vigilante group killed 11 of them and arrested others, while 3 kidnapped victims were successfully rescued.
A source who spoke to Blueprint on the telephone Sunday, said security operatives, acting on intelligence, nabbed an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), who alongside a friend, allegedly supplied the criminals with weapons and information to undertake their heinous crimes.
The successful operation by the security operatives was carried out in series, working with credible intelligence.
“Alaidi is their ring leader. He was killed during the first camp attack. Rabo and seven others were crushed. Madei and one other were killed in the second kidnappers’ camp while Umar escaped with gunshot injuries but was recaptured,” Blueprint gathered.
It was further gathered that five of the arrested kidnappers, including the civil defence operative, were in the custody of the Department of State Security for further investigations.
Speaking on the development, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Muhammed Onogwu, said such security success by the operatives was a welcome development and a proof that the security architecture of the state was strong and solid enough to quash all forms of criminal vices.
He said the “local vigilantes across the state have continued to record good results because of the morale booster and support the governor has continued to give as well as the cooperation from the citizens and synergy between the security operatives.”
Onogwu said the governor had severally made a commitment to secure the lives and property of the citizens and make the state a no-go-zone for criminal elements
Similarly, security agencies are on the trail of kidnappers who were reported to have carried out attack on certain individuals in Kabba.
The state government said it was in touch with security agencies and that the governor already gave a marching order that those kidnapped must be rescued and the perpetrators apprehended.
A source within the state security circles, who doesn’t want his name in print said, “We are getting encouraging headway in their operations against the kidnappers.”
Kano
And from Kano, the Kano state capital, came the report that northern youths, under the auspices of Arewa Youths Consultative Council (AYCC), have begun engagement of over 2,750,000 youths across the 19 northern states to help end the rising spate of kidnapping, banditry and Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the region over the years.
AYCC National President Zaid Ayuba disclosed this during the 2021 National Youth Conference at Mambayya House, Kano Saturday.
He said about 137,500 youths would be drawn from each of 19 northern states, including Abuja.
Ayuba said the AYCC had concluded plans to engage 1,145 youths every month and 13,750 youths every year, who would be trained to acquire security training, including basics on community policing, with a view to helping security agencies in the ongoing fight against banditry, kidnapping and insurgency.
He noted that the current security challenges in the north had negatively affected socio-economic development of the region.
The programme, according to him, is expected to be carried out under “Sustainable Security Project for 19 Northern States (Project SUSPRONS 2021-2031).”
Ayuba listed the objectives of Project SUSPRONS 2021-2031 to include engagement and sensitisation of youths as critical stakeholders to bringing to an end the spate of kidnapping, banditry and Boko Haram insurgency in the North.
He added that the project was also designed “to build the capacity of women to actively play their role as mothers and to empower them in countering violent extremism and radicalisation.”
