In the biggest violence to rock Nigeria’s northwestern Kebbi state since mid-January, gunmen ambushed and killed at least 62 members of a volunteer vigilante organization, according to the group’s leader and a police spokesman.
While security personnel is busy fighting Islamist terrorists and gangs known as bandits, many northwestern Nigerian states have volunteer groups that help defend villages and towns from armed gangs.
According to reporters, Usman Sani, the leader of Kebbi’s “Yan Sa Kai” vigilante organization, his crew prepared to kill robbers in the Sakaba area on Sunday night but were warned off.
Sani, a retired soldier, said on Tuesday, “They laid in ambush, hid their motorcycles in the shrubbery, circled us, and opened fire from different directions.” He said that 62 individuals had died.
Nafiu Abubakar, a spokesman for the Kebbi police, confirmed the ambush but said he didn’t know how many people were slain.
In January, dozens of gunmen on motorcycles raided a town in Kebbi, killing around 50 people.
Gunmen have wreaked havoc in the northwest, kidnapping hundreds of schoolchildren and residents for ransom.
The violence has exacerbated problems in northern states, which are often poorer than their southern counterparts.
