- As the people flee from the village
From John Adams, Minna
Tension, apprehension in Niger communities as armed bandits have given the people of Wurukuchi and Nakuna communities in Shiroro local government area of the state 48 hours to recover from the river, the bodies of their colleagues killed by Military airstrike on Wednesday while fleeing Military operations in Kaduna and parts of Niger state.
The Bandits gave the directive to the people on Friday when they returned to the communities to inquire if the people have seen the bodies of their dead colleagues after they were struck by the military fighter jet on Wednesday.
It could be recalled that over 50 bandits were killed in a boat on river Kusasu in Shiroro local government area of the state when they tried to cross the river in an attempt to escape the onslaught by the military who are currently combing forests in Kaduna and parts of Niger state.
The Bandits had hijacked the wooden boat and asked the driver to cross the river with them to Nakuna enroute to Sarkin pawa in Munya local government area of the state when they were neutralized in an airstrike midway into their journey, killing over 50 of them.
The driver of the wooden boat, Mallam Dufu Ayuba and his boat assistant however miraculously survived the airstrike but his boat was distroyed.
A source close to Wurukuchi community who did not want his name in print told our correspondent on telephone that some group of Bandits arrived the community in about 10 motorcycles each carrying two people and heavily armed on Friday at about 5:00am and asked the people if they have seen the bodies of those killed in the airstrike.
According to our source, they villagers told the Bandits that there are no local divers in the community that could carry out such search and recovery operation as there were no fishermen in the community.
This explanations he stated, did not go down well with the Bandits who told the people to do whatever is possible to ensure that all the bodies of their dead colleagues are retrieved from the water.
“They told us to go to the nearby village and engage the services of local divers to help recover the bodies because they can not abandoned the bodies of their late colleagues in the water.
“They told the village head that they will come back and that they are giving us 48 hours to recover the bodies if not nobody will survive in the community.
“There is serious tension and apprehension right now in the community because we are afraid, we don’t know what to do. Infact people especially women and children have started living the community because we don’t know what will happen next”.
Meanwhile the surviving boat driver, Mallam Duhu Ayuba and his assistant have relocated from the community to a nearby Zumba community for fear of being killed by the Bandits who may want to suspect fowl play following their miraculous escape from the airstrike.
Ayuba who spoke to our correspondent on the incident expressed gratitude to God for saving his life and that of his assistant from the Bandits and airstrike, stressing that “even though I lost my means of survival which is the boat, I still thank God for my life and that of my assistant.
“We were going to the bush to evacuate woods when some boys in the village brought the bandits to us and they (Bandits) asked us to cross the river with them at gun point”, he added.