Double jeopardy for Shamakis; busload of RCCG members abducted as bandits kill 20 vigilantes in Niger

Spending her 15th night in captivity with 38 other students, Fatima may be mourning, if she has been told, the loss of her father, Ibrahim Shamaki, who passed on after a heart attack he suffered over her abduction by bandits that stormed the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in Kaduna.

Nothing exactly is seeping into the public domain as the Federal and Kaduna State governments appear bent on not negotiating with the bandits. It is not clear if families are doing so on behalf of their wards.

The bad news for Fatima comes as mum remains the position of the Kaduna Police Command over the abduction of a busload of members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) reportedly attacked on Friday evening by gunmen in Kaduna State.

The victims were kidnapped during the attack on their way to Kachia in preparation for the church’s ‘Let’s Go a Fishing’ Easter programme, according to reports.

Head, Media and Public Relations of RCCG, Pastor Olaitan Olubiyi, confirmed the abduction on Friday night, declining further comments.

Other sources said the evangelists were on their way to Kafanchan, while a Facebook comment by one Mr Eje Kenny Faraday, read that he “narrowly escaped being a victim,” had broken the news on his Facebook wall with the photograph of the empty bus around 7.00 p.m. on Friday.

“All passengers in the bus (were) kidnapped along Kachia Road, Km 63 from Kaduna,” he posted on his Facebook wall.

In Niger State on Wednesday, news emerged that bandits ambushed and killed 20 vigilantes in Kotonkoro village of Mariga Local Government Area (LGA), while a soldier was killed and another was injured in a military base in the state.

Recall that Governor Abubakar Sani Bello visited the vigilante group two weeks ago and promised to get them pump action rifles to secure the State.

Commandant of the Vigilantes in the LGA, Abu Hashimu, confirmed the killings, saying that “the slain vigilantes were returning from search operation when they were ambushed. Sixteen of them were killed on the spot while the bandits pursued four others who tried to escape and gunned them down also.”

Niger State government officials and popular Islamic scholar, Sheik Abubakar Gumi, last month met with some bandits’ Commanders in Dutsen Magajiya where peace initiative took place before the eventual release of the abducted 42 passengers on board a state government-owned bus were released.

Meanwhile, according to family sources, the father of Fatima, late Shamaki died of the heart attack on Friday evening while his relatives were about to take him to a hospital for further medical treatment.

The news of Ibrahim’s death broke hours after the state government met with representatives of the grieving parents of the missing students at the Government House in the state capital.

This comes as Fatima Shamaki and the other abducted students prepare to spend their 15th night in the captivity of the bandits.

On March 12,  a group of armed men attacked the school.

The attack came on the heels of attacks by bandits on schools in Katsina, Niger, and Zamfara States.

But the military responded to the attack as troops of Quick Response Force of 1 Division of the Nigerian Army mobilised to prevent the bandits from kidnapping othre staff members and students of the school, hiding in the bushes around the school.

This, according to the military, led to the rescue of 180 people, comprising 132 male students, 40 female students, and eight civilian staff members.

The rescued students and staff members were later evacuated to a safe place while those who were injured were taken to a military facility for medical attention.

Despite the response of the soldiers, the bandits kidnapped 39 people, including 23 female and 16 male students.

A day after the incident, the bandits released a video in which the abducted students were seen being beaten as they pleaded with the government to rescue them.

While the parents of the missing students called for their release, the state government has ruled out the option of negotiating with bandits.

Additional reports by Channels TV