With the death of 2-year-old Lois Obajemu at 5.pm yesterday following the bomb blast which rocked Kaduna on Monday; the killing of five people by unknown gunmen who raided Ramin Daji village also in Kaduna and the bloody robbery attacks which has provoked Kogi State in quick successions in two days, there is no denying the fact that Nigeria is currently under a siege.
Unknown gunmen yesterday kiiled five people when they raided Ramin Daji village, near Kagoro, headquarters of Kaura LGA, in the southern part of Kaduna State. The attack came less than 24 hours after a bomb explosion that rocked Kaduna metropolis.
Residents of the area claimed that the attackers were suspected Fulani gunmen numbering about 20.
A similar attack on Kukum Daji, near Kagoro, nine days earlier, left a 52-year-old mother of seven dead and two injured.
The chairman of Kaura LGA, Mrs. Florence Aya, who confirmed the incident on phone, said, “The vigilante groups in the village had assembled to start patrolling the village at about 9:30pm on Monday. Suddenly, some attackers, who were lying in a bush nearby unnoticed, opened fire on them.
“But the vigilante groups could do nothing about it, since they were not carrying firearms. While they tried to ward off the attackers, the invaders went to those they had shot and inflicted deadly machete cuts on them.
“They also cornered a woman carrying an infant and cut them, leaving them for dead. You need to see the kind of injuries on this woman and her infant.? But, by some miracle, the baby and its mother survived. They are now under intensive care in a hospital. I shall not tell you now.
Two others, who were shot, are also critically wounded.
They are also receiving treatment.? Let’s pray for them as they receive treatment.”
The LG boss further narrated: “Even as they came with guns, some of the vigilantes were able to injure one. He escaped leaving a trail of blood on his escape route. As I speak with you, the youth and the police are searching the bushes for him. This is very, very sad. We need more security here.”
When contacted, the Kaduna State police spokesman, DSP Aminu Lawal, confirmed the incident but did not elaborate.
Meanwhile the bomb blast that took place in Kaduna on Monday has finally claimed the life of a two-year-old baby strapped to the back of her mother at the time.
The father of little Lois Obajemu, a native of Kogi State, Mr. Festus Obajemu, who narrated the ordeal to LEADERSHIP in Kaduna amidst tears, said? his wife was running for cover after the first blast when the daughter was struck down by a flying shrapnel.
It was during the confusion brought by the first blast and the effort to escape that a second blast occurred, scattering zinc and wood in the air, he said.? “It was one of the woods that hit my daughter on the back of her head,” he said.
He added? that the girl was immediately rushed to Dami Hospital in the neighborhood. “Doctors said the situation was too critical for them; we then had to rush her to the Air Force Hospital in the barracks where she died at about 5pm,” he said.
In a related development, barely a day after a robbery attack on a first-generation bank and a police station in Ayetoro-Gbedde, in the western axis of Kogi State, the heart of Ebiraland was invaded yesterday by another robbery gang. Three financial institutions were attacked.
The armed bandits, who struck in? broad daylight, robbed the Okene branch of three commercial banks, leaving at least three people dead.
LEADERSHIP reliably gathered that the robbery gang stormed the busy Idakoyivo area of the town where the banks were located at about 3pm, shot sporadically into the air to scare people away, and left with their loot said to be in the range of millions of naira.
The robbers, said to be numbering over 20, stormed the town in exotic cars and jeeps and heavily armed with AK-47 rifles and other sophisticated weapons.
Our correspondent further gathered that the operation lasted one hour, as the entire area was momentarily turned to a war zone, with everybody running for dear life.
The public relations officer of Kogi State Police Command, Mr. Ajayi Okasanmi, confirmed the robbery incident when contacted. He added that the command was finding it difficult to contact their men in Okene due to communication breakdown.
He said he could not confirm if any life was lost during the raid, since he was yet to be fully briefed on the matter.
Also,? a trailer has crushed seven people to death in Masama Village along Malisa-Gwandu Road in Gwandu Local Government Area in Kebbi State.
According to an eyewitness, who arrived the scene minutes after the incident the said trailer marked ZT 905 FST was said to have left Dodoru Market at about 8:30 pm, carrying seven passengers including the driver.?
The witness said,? ‘We reached Masama Town where we saw one man standing by the road pointing to the direction, and as we parked we realised that it was an accident? involving the trailer? and a Toyota (First Lady) marked AJ 346ABC.
The eyewitness,? who craved anonymity, said,?? ‘As we get? closer, we find that all the passengers were dead, but were later identified six victims as? Alhaji Bawa? Shanya, Zaki Usama, Maidamma Aiki, Ummaru Dan Sabongari, Muhammadu Tsamiya, Umaru Dan Iya all of? Ambursa Town, while the remains? of the seventh victim were beyond recognition due to high mutilation.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the exact cause of the accident was not yet known, but some passersby said that it might have occurred from a burst tyre.
The village head of Masama, Mallam Muhammadu, said he was only aware of the accident yesterday morning.
But the Sole Adminstrator,? Gwandu Local Government Area,? Alhaji Muhammad Dangi Juli, confirmed the incident and advises drivers to be more cautious. He also? prayed for the souls of the deceased.
The acting PPRO Kebbi State Police Command however said the command was yet to be briefed of the incident.