By Laleye Dipo
The palace of the village head of Pangu in the Gunna district of Rafi local government area of Niger state was at the weekend set ablaze by bandits.
Also burnt were the rural hospital built and donated to the community by the World Bank, several houses and freshly harvested agricultural products.
The incident has also rendered many villagers homeless.
It was gathered that the bandits riding on about 13 motorcycles and carrying dangerous weapons stormed the village in the early hours of Saturday and proceeded to attack innocent people and made away with their property.
According to a report from the area, one Alhaji Garba lost about 100 cows to the bandits who rustled the animal.
Newly harvested agricultural produce including rice, beans, Guinea corn and maize were burnt by the bandits.
An unspecified number of people including women were said to have been abducted by the bandits
The village head of Pangu Mallam Danladi Pangu and members of his immediate family according to a report have already relocated to Kagara for safety.
Police Public Relations Officer, Niger State Police Command, ASP Wasiu Abiodun, could not be reached for confirmation of the story as he did not pick his cell phone when called.
The Director General Niger State Emergency Management Agency Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko Inga when contacted confirmed the story.
Inga said the bandits burnt down several houses and food items, adding that “many of the villagers have been displaced from their ancestral homes.”
Some of them are staying with relations in other villages because it is unsafe to put all of them in a camp,” Inga said, promising to give further details later.
