* 16 bandits killed by vigilantes
*Â 20 kidnapped victims escape from their abductors
* Four bandits voluntarily surrender, more ready to lay down their arms
No fewer than 35 people, all members of the Pandogari community in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, have been reportedly abducted by a group of bandits operating in Katakwo village along Tegina-Zungeru road.
They were said to be traveling in four commercial vehicles to Minna, the state capital when they were waylaid and abducted.
A commercial bus driver who refused to be taken away by the gunmen was slaughtered on the road and his body abandoned.
“The commercial driver told them that even if they go with him, there is nobody that will pay for his ransom and that was why they slaughtered him on the road there,” a source said.
The escalation of bandity is coming shortly after the State Governor, Rt Hon Umaru Mohammed Bago, reportedly equipped local vigilantes across the volatile areas of the State with the wherewithal to confront bandits wherever they are seen, with a view to curtailing their activities.
The kidnapping of the 35 victims happened even as four bandits on Sunday voluntarily turned in their weapons and surrendered, saying they were tired of their criminal activities, pleading with the government to rehabilitate them as they have nothing to fall back on after leaving their life of crime.
A source within the community told our correspondent that the repented bandits and their families have been handed over to the military stationed at Pandogari community and they have been moved to Minna.
According to our source, more bandits are said to be ready to repent and lay down their arms if their safety can be guaranteed.
In a similar development, it has been reported that no fewer than 16 bandits were killed yesterday (Monday, Nov 4) in an ambush by members of the local Vigilance group in Madaka community also in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, while several others escaped with various degrees of bullet injuries.
Three members of the local Vigilance group, however, lost their lives during the gun-battle which a source close to the community described as very fierce and lasted for well over three hours.
Amidst the melee, about 20 kidnapped victims, mostly travellers who were abducted by the bandits and were being moved to their camps around Birin Gwari in Kaduna State, reportedly escaped from their abductors.
According to a reliable Madaka community source, the vigilantes got wind of the movement of the bandits and decided to lay ambush, which led to the heavy casualties on the side of the bandits.
“We got information about their movement and they decided to lay an ambush for them. They were moving with some victims they had abducted from the road on that day.
“Some were in the front leading the victims while the majority of them were following from behind, so we concentrated on those at the back but those in the front killed three of our men,” the source disclosed.
“We had asked the kidnapped victims to lie down while the gun-battle was going on to avoid being hit by stray bullets. It was after the battle that we handed them over to the security agents,” he added.
The victims were made up of business people who were on their way to the southern parts of the country, when they were abducted by the bandits between Tegina and Zungeru in the same Rafi Local Government Area.
It would be recalled that the State Police Command, in a statement yesterday by the Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun said the police had rescued 19 kidnapped victims unhurt.
