While worshippers were in Church on Sunday at Bakinpah-Maro, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, terrorists struck, killing three persons and kidnapping over 30 people including a pastor away.
Confirming the incident, a former chairman of Kajuru LGA, Cafra Caino, said that the assailants arrived in large numbers around 10 a.m.
They were said to have specifically targeted an ECWA church and a Catholic church.
“The bandits came in large numbers and attacked the two churches,” Caino stated, as reported by The Nation.
Among the abducted was Bernard Gajera, a pastor from one of the churches.
The police have not yet released a statement regarding the attack.
This incident occurs against the backdrop of the Maro community’s recent efforts to fund a security post aimed at attracting more law enforcement personnel to combat persistent security challenges that have disrupted farming activities.
In his Monday 17 September article, Lasisi Olagunju raised the profound poser below.
“Mid last week, respected journalist, Jaafar Jaafar, wrote and had this posted online: ‘A friend from a prominent northern family yesterday narrated a painful story of how his family paid through the nose to secure the release of a relative from bandits. Apart from payment of N35m cash as ransom, they also delivered – as demanded – the following: six brand new motorcyles; four cartons of whiskey; 10 packets of Tramadol; 1(one) bag of Indian Hemp; 1(one) carton of Aspen cigarette; 12 bags of rice (50kg); 10 bags of maize (100kg); 5 bags of beans (100kg); 1(one) 25-litre jerry can of groundnut oil; 1(one) 25-litre jerry can of palm oil; 1 (one) carton of seasoning; 10 packets of paracetamol; 10 packets of chloroquine.
‘While preparing to deliver the foregoing items, the bandits called and ordered them to service the motorcycles and fill up the tanks. Allah Ya kawo ƙarshen wannan masifa.’ Do governments sometimes lose control at night and regain it during the day?”
He also added: “Every day, the security forces announce the ‘neutralization’ of bandits and terrorists. Yet, the forest remains infested from one end to the other. Could it be that the neutralized have also mastered the art of neutralizing death?
“For, the more killed of the bandits by our troops, the more the bandits troop back to abduct and kill… The innocent are tired of life…”
