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Bandits attacked several communities in Malumfashi Council of Katsina State and killed one Umar Isah, a lecturer at the School of Basic and Remedial Studies (SBRS), Funtua Council.
It was learnt that police swung into action when residents raised the alarm about attacks in their areas.
Some residents told newsmen that they heard several gunshots that night and that the shots were intermittent and lasted for hours.
It is, however, not clear how many communities were attacked or if there were casualties apart from the lecturer.
The incident came less than 24 hours after bandits attacked Tsauri, a community in Kafur Council, where they shot one person, and raided several homes.
The victim, who was rushed to the orthopaedic hospital in the metropolitan area of the state, later gave up the ghost.
The attack on Tsauri community, sadly, occurred same day with another attack by bandits on dozens of passengers travelling in two J5 buses along the Jibia/Batsari road, in Batsari Council.
The bandits were said to have abducted several of the passengers and whisked them into the dreaded Fugue forest.
But the police said they had swung into action and recovered all but seven of the abducted passengers.
Police spokesman, SP Gambo Isah, is yet to respond on the Malumfashi incident at press time.
In a related development, unknown persons allegedly broke into the office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mustapha Inuwa, on Sunday night and carted away huge amount of money.
Though details of the incident are still sketchy, reliable sources put the amount stolen at N16 million.
It was learnt that a security guard, two government officials working in the SSG’s office and other suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Fuelling more suspicion of insider collusion is that the incident coincided with the disbursement of allowance arrears to hundreds of S-Power beneficiaries teaching at various state-owned primary and secondary schools.
S-Power is state government’s programme patterned after the Federal Government’s N-Power scheme, with hundreds of graduates and Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) holders recruited to teach in public schools.
It was gathered that huge amounts of money had been kept at the SSG’s office, ostensibly for payment of allowance to the S-Power beneficiaries.
The police spokesman and that of the SSG’s office were yet to respond to inquiries made on the matter as at time of this report.
