…twelve feared dead, many others wounded
What could have happened between bandits that must have led to turning their guns to themselves leaving twelve of them killed? Could they be fighting for money or is it a case of Nemesis catching up with them? These are some of the numerous questions being asked by villagers in Kusasu village in Shiroro Local government area of Niger state as armed bandits turned their Guns against themselves in a fierce battle.
Besides those killed, several others suffered various degrees of injuries but managed to escape the battleground.
This scenario which happened last Friday in the Community led to the disappearance of some other bandits from the area.
Our Correspondent however learned from an internal impeccable source from the village that there was a sharp disagreement between the leader of the group and his boys over ransom paid to them earlier.
The leader popularly called Mallam Dogogide had accused his Boys of shortchanging him after their previous operations.
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Dogogide is said to be one of the leaders of the three notorious bandits groups operating within Shiroro local government, Rafi and Munya in Niger, and Birnin Gwari in Kaduna state.
It was also gathered that Dagogide had frowned against the laid down operational rules by killing Villagers indiscriminately and raping married women.
Angered by this, he summoned his boys for a meeting and threatened to sack them and replace them with new recruits.
The action it was gathered did not go down well with his Boys which led to heated arguments and in the process, one of his boys attempted to kill him when he opened fire but the bullet could not enter his Boss.
Loyalists of the leader who were angered by the disloyalty to Dogogide fought back in defence of their leader and opened fire and gunned down 12 of the disgruntled ones while others escaped.
The Source further revealed to our Correspondent that some of the bandits later stormed the village after the “battle” and abducted ten men to help bury the dead bodies.
The ten abductees were however released after the burial as the bandits fled the Community.
Some of the villagers are said to have fled the area out of fear that the bandits could later invade their Community and killing them.