Terrorists invade Niger villages, abduct worshippers during Jumat prayers 

Terrorists on Friday invaded four villages in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State and abducted a yet-to-be confirmed number of worshippers who came to pray during Friday’s congregational prayer.

The village head of Dekara, Umar Abubakar, who spoke to Peoples Gazette, said that the gunmen invaded his community and abducted several worshippers around 2 p.m.

“Yes, it is true. For now, we can’t confirm the number of abducted victims because it happened in Dekara Central Mosque,” he told The Gazette on a phone call.

He stated that the terrorists invaded his village, including the neighboring villages and abducted worshippers in the mosques.

“They invaded four different villages but it was Dekara that recorded the highest number of victims. They abducted worshippers in Dekara, Sabon Gida, Masaka and Gidan Zana”, he said 

The village head told The Gazette that the gunmen are yet to make a contact with them to place their demands, lamenting further that the invaders destroyed their solar network used for communication.

“They have not contacted us and they destroyed our Solar network,” he added.

When contacted, Maurice Magaji, the state commissioner for homeland security,  said he was yet to be briefed about the incident.

“Perhaps, I’m not aware of the incident. Police or SSS around there would have the details. I have not retrieved the information,” he said.

He further urged The Gazette to reach out to the police spokesman in the state for details. The police spokesman, Wasiu Abiodun, was not available for comment.

SMS and WhatsApp messages sent to him were not responded to as of press time.