There is a high likelihood that the estimated 60 persons, mostly children, abducted by bandits in Zamfara and Katsina states on Friday, will come to little or no harm, as they are probably being used as human shields to discourage the military from further attacks on the fleeing bandits, security sources have told our reporter.
Our sources who chose not to be named because they are not authorised to speak on the matter, say this manner of abductions by bandits on the run is a common escape strategy.
They further add that the random nature of the abductions and the particular selection of children, around whom there is a natural sentiment of care, indicate that the motive of the bandits is to dissuade further pursuit and attacks by the military because of the high likelihood of injury and loss of life of innocents.
Our sources add that although farmers are sometimes abducted for ransom, such abductions usually follow demands by bandits for protection money to allow the farmers undisturbed access to their farms, especially at planting and harvest seasons. They add that there were no reports of demands for protection money by the bandits in this case.
The abductions were said to have taken place on Friday morning when the bandits were moving from Sububu forest in Zamfara to a forest in Birnin Gwari LGA of Kaduna state.
Ahmad Kucheri, a resident of Tsafe LGA in Zamfara state, was reported to have said that the bandits had suffered casualties from the military and were fleeing from the state, adding that the bandits began abducting people they encountered on their way out of the state.
He said the majority of the victims were abducted from their farms, while some were children who went to fetch firewood in the bush.
The affected victims are from the Kucheri, Wanzamai, and Danwuri communities of Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State, and Yankara town in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State.
Although police authorities are yet to confirm the incident, it was reported that that the terrorists had come under heavy military bombardment in Zamfara, leading to the death of over 100 of their members.
Channels News reports that most of the people abducted were picked inside their various farms, some children that were fetching firewood and local fertilisers in the bush, and some workers in local mining sites.
An eye witness was quoted as saying that: “The bandits were moving from Sububu Forest to Birnin-Gwari side. So, they see people in the bush fetching firewood, they picked them, some children that are picking local fertilisers, some that are doing mining work, they gathered all of them and moved them to Birnin-Gwari side to Niger State.”
