A gang of 20 armed robbers, reportedly invaded Kuchiku village, near Suleja deport in Niger State on Saturday and killed the son of the community’s vigilante leader.
Residents of the community told our reporter that the attackers parked their vehicle at the main road close to the village and entered the village through the bush path.
Daily Trust learnt that on arriving the village the robbers went straight to the house of an oil dealer and forced residents of the community to flee the area through sporadic gun shots.
A vigilante source in the community told our reporter, who was at the village on Tuesday, that the robbers had made an attempt to enter the oil dealer’s house through the fence but pulled back when they heard gun shots from members of the vigilante group in the opposite direction. The source added that a boy, Bilya Nasiru, the son of the leader of the vigilante in the area was, however, shot by the rampaging robbers while fleeing the scene.
The boy was said to be returning home when he ran into the bandits.
His father, called Nasiru officer, was said to be leading a reinforcement vigilante team from a nearby Tunga village to the community after receiving distress calls when he saw the body of his son lying by the roadside.
When contacted, the Suleja Police Area Commander, Abubakar Yahaya, an Assistant Commissioner, confirmed the incident, saying the boy was first taken to Suleja General Hospital.
He added however that the boy later died on the way to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, where he was referred.
