Four people were reportedly killed and 18 others were kidnapped in an attack by suspected armed bandits in the state’s Giyawa hamlet, Goronyo Local Government Area.
One of the local governments of Sokoto State’s problematic Eastern Senatorial District is Goronyo.
According to ASP Ahmed Rufai, the public relations officer for the Sokoto State Police, who confirmed the event, the assailant initially kidnapped 18 people.
He added that seven of the kidnapped people eventually managed to get away and return to the neighborhood where they had fled for protection.
Although other local media stated that over thirty people had been kidnapped, the police insisted that just eleven people remained with the assailants.
He gave the assurance that the police are hunting down the attackers and working to bring the affected community and environment back to normal.
However, several of the locals who spoke with our journalist on the phone and disagreed with the reported numbers of abducted people put the number at around 30.
When chatting with our journalist, Inuwa Yusuf, a local of the area, he stated, “It is not true, we have about thirty people kidnapped by these bandits who also rustle our livestock and made away with large numbers of them.”