Youth allegedly angered by the absence of Sokoto State’s commissioner for security and career service, Garba Moyi, at a meeting over incessant killings and abductions in their area have burnt down his house.
The incident occurred on Monday evening in Isa, Mr Moyi’s village.
The mob also vandalised the house of the village head. Sources said the commissioner was in the state capital at the time of the incident.
Isa, Sabon Birni, Gwaranyo, Rabah, Gada, Tangaza are the worst-hit areas in the state by banditry.
The state government recently banned mobile telecommunications network in 14 of its 23 local government areas to complement the efforts of security agents in fighting the bandits.
The police spokesperson in the state, Sanusi Abubakar, confirmed the burning down of the house of the commissioner to the media.
He said arrests had been made by the police in connection with the incident.
Angry mob
Abubakar Isa, a resident of Sokoto, said the youth were angry with the commissioner and other political office holders.
Some of them even believe that the commissioner has abandoned his own people. The attacks are becoming rampant these days, despite the efforts they said they are making to address it. There is no day that a person is not kidnapped or killed in Isa or Sabon Birni,” Mr Isa said.
He said the mob stormed the venue of a security meeting convened by leaders in the local government area.
According to him, the mob went on rampage when they discovered that the commissioner was not at the meeting.
“They went to the residence of the commissioner and set it on fire before proceeding to the residence of the district head and smashed the windscreens of his vehicles,” Mr Isa said.
Sokoto, like other states in the north, has witnessed an upsurge in banditry in recent months leading to a renewed onslaught by the military to rout the bandits.
Source: PREMIUM TIMES