The entire Allawa community of Niger State has been sacked by gunmen, suspected to be bandits in the early hours of Sunday.
A pregnant woman who ran into the bush for safety was on the verge of giving birth but the gunmen were said to have displayed some level of sympathy as they asked some women to attend to her while their looting went on.
This is coming barely four days after armed bandits invaded the Joint Security TaskForce Camp in Allawa in Shiroro local government area of the state, killing five soldiers and a mobile policeman.
The gunmen who were said to be numbering about 100, arrived the community at about 2:00am Sunday morning devoid of their usual sporadic shooting into the air to scare the people and operated in a relaxed atmosphere for over four hours.
It was reported that the entire cattle and sheep in the community were taken away by the gunmen as no one was killed during their attack but that did not stop the people from fleeing into the bush as the gunmen freely moved from house to house and dispossessing the people of their belongings, including food stuff and other valuables.
The entire Allawa community is now deserted as the people have all fled to neighboring Pandogari town, where they are currently taking refuge in primary schools and other open spaces without food and water.
An eyewitness report said, “As I talk to you now the situation is very pathetic, the whole community is empty. The people have left the town without taking any of their belongings along with them.”
It was noted that after the attack on the Joint Security TaskForce Camp few days ago, where five soldiers and a mobile policeman were killed, there is no single presence of any security agent in the entire Allawa community, which made the invasion an easy one for the gunmen.
“The people are helpless because there is no help coming from anywhere and that is why the people have to flee to the neighboring Pandogari town. The government have abandoned the people to their faith, and it is sad,” the report added.
It should be recalled that 24 hours after the killing of five soldiers and a policeman on Thursday morning by armed bandits, the Joint Security TaskForce Camp in Allawa and Basa in Shiroro local government area were shut down and all the security agents moved out.
No reason was however given for their action but a source close to the one of the security agencies in the state said it is to enable the government come up with a better strategy to fight the bandits.
