Bandits operating in Katsina state are using Radio Frequency Walkie Talkie Transceivers to overcome the shutdown of telecommunications service in the state, the state government has said. The state government had in September cut telecommunications networks in 13 local government areas it said were in the front line of banditry in the state. But at a press conference Thursday afternoon, Secretary to the Government of Katsina State, Mustapha Inuwa, said the bandits have been unrelenting in circumventing the security measures devised to curb their activities. “In spite of the successes recorded, however, it is worthy to note that since the…

At least 43 people have died following raids by gunmen in Sokoto state this week, three times more than the initial death toll given by officials, a spokesman for the state governor said on Wednesday. Although the military is conducting an operation to stamp out a tide of violence by armed gangs known as bandits in the northwest, including a telecoms blackout, the violence and kidnappings have continued. The latest attacks in Sokoto's Illela town bordering Niger republic town took place from Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning. The state government had said 13 people were killed…

For three consecutive days, bandits have intensified their raid on communities in Munya Local Government Area of Niger State, the latest being the invasion of Zagaga community in the early hours of yesterday, where they killed two people and abducted 66 others. Among those killed were two youths providing voluntary security services in the community due to absence of security agents, and a local vigilante who was butchered when gun bullets could not penetrate him. Three other youths sustained gunshot injuries, one of them had his right leg broken, and are currently at a government facility in Minna, the state…

Gunmen in the early hours of Monday bombed the Magistrate Court in Ubulu, Oru West Local Government Area of Imo State. The hoodlums ignited the court with a petrol bomb causing the entire building to go in flames. Interim Management Committee (IMC) chairman of Oru West, Willie Okolieogwo, who confirmed the incident, expressed sadness over the development. He said that although the court was completely razed by the hoodlums nobody was, however, wounded in the inferno. Okolieogwo, who is also the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) chairman in Imo State, expressed shock that the gunmen were still on…