Suspected bandits have abducted the Chairman of Bungudu Local Government Area in Zamfara State following an overnight attack that left two police officers dead.
A Security Analyst, Basharu Altine, who spoke with THE WHISTLER, said the assailants reportedly stormed the resistance of the LG chairman in the Zango area barely 20 kilometres from the state capital, Gusau, opening fire on security personnel attached to the council chairman.
He said that two policemen were killed during the attack, while an Aide-de-Camp (ADC) attached to the chairman sustained gunshot injuries.
“The gunmen subsequently abducted the council chairman, along with his wife and children, before fleeing the scene,” he told THE WHISTLER on the telephone.
According to him, the chairman’s wife and children, however, returned home shortly after the incident.
Altine quoted the chairman’s wife as saying, ‘the kidnappers deliberately freed them, insisting that their target was solely the council chairman’.
“They released us themselves and said, ‘It is only the chairman that they came for, and they have taken him’.”
The incident has heightened concerns over the worsening security situation in Zamfara State, where attacks by armed bandits have continued despite ongoing military operations to restore peace.
Residents have appealed to the Federal Government and security agencies to intensify efforts to secure the chairman’s safe release and strengthen measures to protect communities from recurring attacks.
As of the time of filing this report, security authorities had yet to issue an official statement on the incident.
(The Whistler)