60 armed men storm traditional ruler’s palace in Niger,miss target

By Correspondent in Minna.

Gunmen numbering about 60 have invaded the palace of the Emir of Kagara,Alhaji Ahmed Garba Gunna Attahiru II in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger state, but the traditional ruler was said to be out of the palace during the invasion.

Our Correspondent gathered that the armed gunmen, who stormed the palace on Tuesday in about 20 motorcycles, began shooting sporadically into the air to scare intruders, as they made way into the palace unchallenged, forcing people to run for safety.

An eye witness account from the area told our correspondent that the armed men first invaded the busy market, being market day, at about 5p.m, forcing traders to scamper for safety and later headed for the palace.

The source also hinted that Kagara became deserted as people abandoned their homes to take refuge in the bush to avoid being kidnapped or killed, while few courageous ones resorted to prayer for Allah’s intervention and protection.

The source said, “The armed men came into Kagara through Attahiru primary school toward Madaka road leading to the bush where they abducted the students of Kagara some months back.”

The source, who however expressed gratitude to Allah that the Emir was not in town when the gun men who apparently had come to abduct him came calling saying, “maybe they heard the rumour that the Emir who has been out of town is back”.

“Unfortunately for them,the Emir, Alhaji Ahmed Garba Gunna Attahiru 11 has been away for almost two weeks now but the situation is worsened due to lack of network service in Kagara,” he said.

He expressed gratitude to Allah that the gun men could not achieve their evil mission.

Efforts by our Correspondent to confirm the attack from the Chairman, Rafi Local Government Area, Alhaji Ismaila Danmodibo and the Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu A. Abiodun,as at the time of filing the report, proved abortive as their numbers kept indicating,”unreachable” when called several times.