In what has become a recurring decimal in northern Nigeria, 75 people were abducted by gunmen from Rini, a village in Zamfara State on Saturday.
This is coming as a sort of retort to the charge by Nigeria’s President, Muhammad Buhari, on Thursday to service chiefs to ramp up their efforts.
The spate of kidnappings has continued to defy all security efforts as the abductors seem to have increased their activities, often demanding huge ransoms.
In this latest development, a Rini resident, Aliyu Tungar-Rini, reports that the number of people kidnapped from (the village of) Rini as being over seventy-five.
Another resident, Habu Abubakar, said more than 80 people were kidnapped by the gunmen, who came wearing black clothes on more than 50 motorbikes.
“My shop was looted and I was left with a few things,” he said.
“They abducted my uncle, I narrowly escaped death,” said Mohammed Dan Auwal, another resident.
He described the attack starting Friday afternoon and lasting until the early hours of Saturday, as the kidnappers went from house to house snatching children and the elderly.
A police spokesman confirmed the abduction but declined to provide details.
