Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The bandits came in the early hours of Thursday, before the sun rose over Babban Saura PW community in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. They moved from house to house, breaking through fences and forcing their way into compounds. By the time they left, one man was dead, nine people had been abducted, and a community was once again left to bury its dead and mourn its missing.
The attack began at the home of an elderly man, where the assailants abducted two of his children. They then moved to the residence of a man identified as Sikiru. According to a community source who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria, the attackers broke through Sikiru's fence and gained entry into his compound. Sikiru confronted them when they entered his parlour, and a struggle ensued between him and some of the assailants. He was eventually shot dead. His wife and two children were then taken away.
The bandits did not stop there. They invaded a neighbouring house and abducted a woman identified as Maman Mubarak and her four children. The vigilantes received a distress call about the attack and immediately alerted soldiers, who joined them in pursuing the assailants. They traced the bandits to the Eastern Bypass area and succeeded in rescuing Maman Mubarak. But her four children remained in captivity. Usman Adamu, commander of the local vigilantes, confirmed the rescue and the grim arithmetic of the attack. "Nine people were initially abducted," he said. "We traced them to the Eastern Bypass area and succeeded in rescuing a woman, Maman Mubarak, whose four children were among those kidnapped."
When a NAN correspondent visited the community, sympathisers had gathered at Sikiru's residence. Residents expressed concern over the security situation that has left them vulnerable to repeated attacks. One resident, who identified himself as Anas, said Sikiru had contacted him shortly after the attackers invaded the community. The call was one of the last conversations Sikiru would ever have.
The attack came just days after suspected bandits invaded the nearby Kadaure community, where a man was reportedly killed and cattle were rustled. The pattern is familiar to residents of Chikun Local Government Area, who have endured years of bandit raids, kidnappings and killings. The Eastern Bypass, where the vigilantes and soldiers tracked the assailants, has become a notorious route for criminal gangs moving between Kaduna's forests and the communities they prey upon.
For the families of the nine abducted, the wait has begun. Maman Mubarak is safe, but her four children are still with the bandits. Sikiru's wife and two children are still in captivity. Two other children, taken from the elderly man's home, are also missing. The vigilantes and soldiers did what they could. They rescued one woman. But the bandits escaped with the rest, disappearing into the darkness from which they came. The people of Babban Saura PW are left to ask the question that communities across Kaduna have been asking for years: how many more must die, how many more must be taken, before the government finds a way to protect them? For now, the answer is measured in the silence of nine empty beds and the tears of families waiting for a miracle.
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