Angered by the killing of six of its members in a fire exchange with armed bandits in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State, the Vigilante Group in Mariga Local Government Area has threatened to suspend their operations in the area.
During the fire exchange five days ago, when the bandits attacked the area, the Vigilante’s Grand Commander, Dan Asabe Mariga and other members lost their lives
They claimed that the decision to suspend work was over what they described as government’s insensitivity to their plights.
Speaking to newsmen on the issue at vicinity of their late Grand Commander, in Mariga, the Vice Chairman of the group, Tanko Maiyaki, stated that the group suffered the lost of six members due to lack of sophisticated weapons to fight back.
“Until government rises up to the challenge of providing us with modern and sophisticated weapons that would match those of the bandits, we will no longer expose ourselves to danger such as the one that led to loss of our members. The bandits came with sophisticated weapons while, we came with locally made weapons and dane guns which most times get hooked during battle with bandits thereby, exposing our lives to serious danger and risk.”
Looking so sad and devastated, one of the sons of deceased Commander, who was also one of those that took part in the gun fire exchange, Sunusi Aliyu, lamented at the lack of concern by government for the welfare of Vigilante members in the state.
He said, “Despite our sacrifices and service to humanity, government is not concerned about our welfare and that of our families.
” We got a distress called of bandits attacks and rushed there, only to lose six of our members including my father. Nothing has been done by the government, ideally the education of the children of the deceased ought to have been taken care of by Niger State Government, Mariga and Rafi Local governments where we got a distress call.”
Also, the District head of Mariga Alh Ilyasu Ibrahim, expressed pains over the death of the six vigilantes, who he said contributed a lot in protecting the lives and property of the people of Mariga.
” Their death is a great loss to the area because, they contributed immensely in protecting lives and property of people of Mariga and some neighbouring local governments from both internal and external aggressions.”