By Ayodele comfort
Six days after terrorists abducted worshippers during Friday prayers in Niger State, the state government says it has received no communication from the perpetrators and is still unable to establish the exact number of people taken.
The state Commissioner for Information, Obed Nuhu, disclosed this on Thursday, saying the August 21 attacks occurred at three different locations in Borgu Local Government Area and were suspected to have been carried out by Lakurawa and Boko Haram elements.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Nuhu said the government had not received any contact from the abductors.
“No such (contact with the kidnappers) has happened. We have not had any interactions with them but the suspicion is the Lakurawas as they call themselves and the Boko Haram. It happened in three different locations around that kingdom,” he said.
The commissioner also said the government was still gathering information on the number of victims, warning against relying on unverified figures.
He said the government would not speculate on the number of people abducted until it obtained verified details.
The development comes nearly a week after suspected terrorists invaded communities in Borgu, attacking worshippers at the Kpenya Mosque in Gidan-Zana, Kpenya village, during Juma’at prayers.
According to The PUNCH, the attackers stormed the mosque at about 2pm on August 21 and abducted worshippers, including children, women and elderly people. The newspaper also reported that the village head of Ka’ada, who had recently been released from the attackers’ den, and the 90-year-old father of the District Head of Dekara were among those abducted.
The Niger State Police Command initially said an unspecified number of people were abducted and that some residents escaped into a nearby forest.
The police also said, at the time, that no death had been recorded in the mosque attack and that a joint security detachment had been deployed for assessment and rescue operations.
However, subsequent reports indicated that the violence extended beyond the mosque and affected several communities in the Dekara area.
The PUNCH reported on Thursday that the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and the Northern Senators Forum said the attacks occurred in Gbeji, also known as Gidan-Zana, Kpenya, Giyan Gbasu and Dekara communities, with residents reportedly killed, injured or abducted.
The Islamic council expressed particular concern over the attack on Dekara, where terrorists reportedly invaded a central mosque during Jumu’at prayers and abducted more than 60 worshippers. (Punch)
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