By Maiharaji Altine

Bandits have on Saturday kidnapped the District Head of Wuya town in Anka Local Government Area of Zamfara state, Alhaji Umar, and his son, Manir Umar.

Also kidnapped was the Chief Imam of the town, Malam Murtala, who was leading the prayer.

An eye witness, Alhaji Muhammadu Biyu said the monarch, his son and the Imam were kidnapped at gunpoint in a mosque during afternoon prayers by a group of bandits who went to the town on motorcycles.

According to him, the bandits entered into the mosque when the people were observing the afternoon congregational prayers and whisked the District Head, his son and the Chief Imam of the mosque away.

Muhammadu explained that the bandits shot into the air indiscriminately so as to scare the people of the town and later moved to the forest with their victims.

He further explained that the people of the town later pursued the bandits in a bid to rescue the three kidnapped persons where the bandits again opened fire and injured many people.

He expressed disgust over the abduction of the district head and the two persons by the bandits, lamenting that, ” The bandits who claimed to have repented have been accommodated and accepted by the people of Wuya town only for them to now break the peace accord”.

According to Muhammadu, the district head had been very kind and generous to the repentant bandits and was even being accused by some people of the town as being part of them.

“He has been very kind and helpful to the repentant bandits and even allowed them to be mingling with the people of his district, where many people thought that he was part of them. Now they have abducted him,” Muhammadu said.

Confirming the incident in a telephone conversation, the Emir of Anka, Alhaji Attahiru Mohammed Ahmed, directed our reporter to talk to the local government chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Soja Anka for more details.

Frantic efforts were made to talk to the chairman on the telephone were not successful.

Speaking to newsmen on the issue, the state’s Commissioner in charge of Security and Home Affairs, Alhaji Abubakar Dauran, said, the state government had received the information and had since mobilized both the police and military to go after the culprits and rescue the kidnapped victims.