By Desire Emmanuel
Bandits in the early morning of Saturday invaded a community mosque in Sokoto State, killing an Imam who led the prayer as well as a worshipper while also abducting some other worshippers.
It was gathered that the bandits on motorcycles invaded Kiba Ruwa, a community in Sabon-Birni Local Government Area of the state, attacked the mosque when the residents were observing their Subh prayer.
A highly reliable source close to the community told Impact Nigeria News Online on Saturday evening that after killing the Imam and the worshipper, the bandits abducted an undisclosed number of other residents who came to pray in the mosque and took them into the forest.
The incident caused panic in the community as some other residents were said to have fled in different directions and are yet to be accounted for as of the time of this report.
The Northern region of the country, especially the North-Western part, has had a terrible share of constant bandits attacks as the marauders usually invade communities, killing residents and abducting others.
In some cases, the bandits impose levies on the residents, telling them to make money available in order for them to enjoy relative peace. Some of the bandits impose as high as N10 million on the residents.
They also give monetary conditions for farmers before they can have access to their farmlands while they also sign ‘peace deals’ with some communities after various amounts have exchanged hands.
In all these, most of the time, the state government as well as security agencies are not always available to protect the citizens.
