Insecurity: Shiroro hunters kill 47 bandits in ‘riverside’ community in Niger

Local hunters in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State have raided ‘riverside’ community in Magami between Shiroro and Rafi Local Government Areas on Wednesday and killed bandits who have been terrorising the area for quite sometimes now.

Bandits have used riverside community as hideouts to launch attacks on adjoining communities and other parts of Niger State.

A source told select journalists that bandits have their camps in and around Rafi, and in parts of Shiroro which made it difficult for conventional security operatives to launch attacks on them.

But Wednesday’s assault on them left 47 dead, while, others escaped with gunshot wounds.

“I can tell you for a fact that the bandits met their waterloo. At least 47 of them were eliminated by the hunters who participated in the operation,” he said.

It is recalled that governor Sani Bello recently launched Niger Special Vigilante Corps (NSVC) to jointly operate with the Police and other security outfits in order to rid Niger State of bandits and other criminal elements.

While inaugurating the Vigilante Corps, the governor insisted that activities of bandits wouldn’t intimidate the State and government will at all cost protect lives and properties of the State.

Sani-Bello had said: “Bandits want to force us to change our way of life in Niger State but we won’t allow them.

“They stopped our children from going to school, they stopped us from travelling on our roads, they stopped farmers from going to the farm and now they are trying to stop from anything, but we will not be intimidated. We will not allow that to happen; we will continue to live our normal lives.”

Meanwhile, Niger State Police Command could’nt be reached to confirm Wednesday’s onslaught against bandits.