In brutal attacks, terrorists invaded Kakare and Barkiyya communities in Batsari and Kurfi local government areas of Katsina state.

The terrorists, according to a resident in the Barkiyya community, Harisu Oga, stormed the village on the night of Tuesday at about 11:40pm.

Oga said, “The group invaded our village with dangerous weapons, went directly to the village head of Barkiyya, Ibrahim Abdullahi Barkiyya took him away to an unknown place.

“With the help of policemen and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARs), the village head was rescued in the early morning of Wednesday and reunited with his family members,” he said.

There is no available information from the police or any of the family members on whether the family of the village head paid the ransom or not.

However, HumAngle learnt that the village head is a relative of the current senator representing Katsina central, Hon. Kabir Barkiyya.

The story of his rescue, on Wednesday, generated a lot of controversy in the communities of Kurfi local government area.

Bulyaminu, a resident of the community and one of the active participants of the last protest said, “What is so unfortunate is the fact that the person in question who was kidnapped and later rescued) is a relative of the current serving senator of Katsina central.

“No wonder the victim was recused barely a few hours after his abduction with SARS, Police, military and even vigilantes all deployed in the rescue mission of one person.

“However, when an ordinary poor citizen is abducted, it will take weeks or even months before the victim returns home to his family, even after paying huge ransom to the kidnappers.

“The government cares only for their families while the poor masses are left at the mercy of the deadly terrorists,” he added.

“There is serious suspicion and mistrust in the town, though the issue was not a surprise to anyone in Katsina state, this is not the first time such seriousness was shown to victims of the VIPs while the poor ones are always struggle with the group in their various communities” Aminu Kurfi, a resident lamented.

Meanwhile, two women, cattle and food items were also carted away in Kakare by the terrorists.

According to eyewitnesses, the terrorists stormed the community in the night, attacked the residents including the district head, Chiroma Ahmadu Kakare and kidnapped his 20 year-old daughter, Saudat.

Sources told HumAngle that the group stormed the community in the early morning of Wednesday around 12:50am, terrorizing the local civilians and searching house by house looking for food items and cattle.

Sale Iliyasu, a resident of the community who spoke with HumAngle said, “their heavy gunshots woke me up from the bed. Before I came out of my house, they were already asking me to give what I have or risk my life. I quickly gave some money and carted away my rice and some other food items.”

A relative to the district head, who spoke with HumAngle on the condition of anonymity, said, “the group collected Chiroma’s mobile phones and handed over a new SIM card to him which will enable him to communicate with them for ransom negotiation.

“The second person kidnapped is the wife of one resident who has nothing to offer to them, so they kidnapped his wife and asked him to source money for her release,” the source said.

HumAngle reports that both the district head daughter and the other victim are still in the hands of their abductors and no information has reached their families concerning the ransom.

Credit: HumAngle