A long-awaited rainfall should have been received with joy by Khalid Umar and other farmers in the Pandogari district of Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State. In these rural communities, a downpour prompts farmers to rush to their fields to spray pesticides and plant seeds. Instead, a recent one became a trap. Within hours of the rain stopping, armed bandits encircled the farmlands on 15 June, forcing Mr Umar to abandon his motorcycle and run on foot for his life.
Some villagers were not as fortunate. That afternoon, the assailants killed Dauda Galadima, a resident of the nearby Ruba village. They also abducted five farmers on their fields, including Nasiru Yakubu and his son, Bilyaminu. After their family paid a five-million-naira ransom, the bandits released the father but kept the son for more money.
Nasiru Yakubu
A similar attack had occurred a day earlier. Mr Umar told PREMIUM TIMES that bandits raided a farm plantation on 14 June, killing two farmers and kidnapping four women and a man identified as Haruna Dattijo. Upon hearing the news of his abduction, Mr Dattijo’s mother reportedly slumped and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
For peasant farmers, avoiding the fields is not an option. In these rural communities, farming is the sole means of survival. Left to fend for themselves, residents are now devising localised security measures to protect their communities and stave off starvation.
