Tag: Niger State

Niger: Bandits release video of Shiroro LG abducted women

Aminu Imam
Niger bandits

…Demand 130 motorcycles The kidnappers of 26 women from Allawa community, in Shiroro local government area of Niger State, have released a video featuring two of the captives. In the video, the women plead with their families to provide the 130 motorcycles demanded for their release. The 30-second video, shared with our correspondent, shows one of the women tied to a tree, pleading for her family to deliver the items required by the kidnappers. Speaking in Hausa, she called on a relative, named AbdulRahman, to help provide the items. “Umar,…

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Day-1 Hardship Protest: 6 protesters shot dead, others injured in Niger

Aminu Imam
Niger protest

Six people have been reportedly killed while some sustained injuries in the hunger and hardship protest in Suleja, Niger State. The victims were said to have killed while security operatives were struggling to dislodge a group of protesters who mounted barricade on a section of Abuja-Kaduna highway. According to reports, passengers and motorists plying the highway were trapped on the road for hours. Some policemen who were around the barricade could not control the youths who outnumbered them. However, a reinforcement team was sent to the scene where pandemonium occurred.…

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Insecurity: 148 Niger farmers still in captivity over 53 days after abduction

Aminu Imam
Niger farmers

Residents of Kuchi, an agrarian community in Munya local government area (LGA) of Niger State, continue to suffer, as 148 farmers remain in captivity more than fifty-three days after a devastating bandit raid on May 24, 2024. The bandits, numbering over 100, abducted the farmers, including pregnant women and children, and have since demanded ransom for their release. Speaking to newsmen, AbdulMalik Iliyasu, expressed anguish over the situation, revealing that some captives have died. Those released revealed that the bandits collected ransom before informing families of the deaths. “The bandits…

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Niger: Bandits kill 21, abduct scores in Rafi LGA community

Aminu Imam

Suspected bandits have reportedly killed 21 persons, including the village head, in Madaka, a village in the Rafi local government area of Niger State. According to the residents, the bandits abducted an unspecified number of people, adding that the bandits arrived at the village at about 3 p.m. on Thursday, when the community market was in full swing. According to the sources, the well-armed bandits entered the village shooting sporadically before embarking on an orgy of killings, arson, and abduction. They said the bandits also burnt down about 50 houses…

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Niger: Gov. Bago renames Minna airport after Tinubu

Aminu Imam

The Abubakar Imam international airport in Minna has been renamed after President Bola Tinubu, the Niger State government has disclosed. The State governor, Umar Bago, renamed the airport after Tinubu ahead of the President’s visit to the State. The President is expected in Minna, the state capital, on Monday to flag off agro-processing zone and other projects. The State’s Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Investment, Aminu Takuma, announced the development on Sunday, while addressing to journalists at the Government House in Minna, the State capital. Takuma, who was represented by the…

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Niger: Displaced locals return to terror-ravaged communities, forced by hunger and abandonment

Aminu Imam

Displaced by unending violence and abandoned by their government, locals from Shiroro local government area have returned to villages they once deserted due to the activities of terror groups. Sadly, they are now in a tightrope, suffering unending kidnapping, rival clashes between terror groups and military onslaught targeting the terrorists. According to a 25-year-old farmer from Bassa, one of the villages in the Allawa district of Shiroro local government area (LGA), Zakari Adam, fled his community in 2021 following repeated terror attacks. He said, like a nomad, he moved from…

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Terror Attacks: Residents flee, as bandits strike Abuja, Niger border’s communities

Aminu Imam

Following the constant wave of terror attacks on some communities in Tafa local government area of Niger State, which shares a boundary with the nation’s capital, Abuja, residents of the area have now been displaced as they fled their homes, seeking refuge in urban centres of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Garam, which shares a boundary with Kuduru, another troubled community in Bwari Area Council of the FCT, has been under severe attacks from bandits since December 24, 2023. The raging attacks yesterday also spread to Zuma community, in the…

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Niger: State Govt. bans sale, consumption of alcohol in Suleja 8 other LGAs

Aminu Imam

The Niger State Liquor and Licencing Board has announced plans to ban sales and consumption of alcohol in Suleja and eight other local government areas of the State. In a statement signed by the Board’s Secretary, Ibrahim Muhammad Bonu, on Monday, the ban would commence on January 1, 2024. The statement also revealed that some beer joints within Minna, the State capital, would be served with relocation letters to move outside the city to within an 8-kilometre radius of the Post Office area in the State. While calling on all…

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Niger: “Statement on dress code contextually misunderstood” – Gov. Bago

Aminu Imam

Niger State governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, has said his statement on the dress code was quoted out of context and wrongly presented to the public. In an issued statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, Governor Bago said the video going viral on social media platforms where the Governor was captured saying civil servants from Mondays to Thursdays should not dress in native attire, popularly called ‘Babban Riga’ in Hausa language, did not capture the statement in its original context. “Governor believes that, as a State, we have…

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Niger: Governor bars civil servants from wearing native attire, kaftans and Babbanriga to offices on workdays 

Aminu Imam

Governor Umaru Bago, of Niger State, has barred civil servants in the state from wearing native attire, kaftans and Babbanriga to offices, from Monday to Thursday. He added that any officer who fails to comply with the directive will be dismissed from the service. Bago gave the directive during the presentation of land development and preparation equipment at the Brains and Hammers Rice City in Wushishi local government area of the State at the weekend. According to him, all English attire is permissible going forward. “As from Monday, we will…

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