Suspected illegal miners cart away valuables in Niger estate raid

Suspected dare-devil armed robbers numbering over a dozen on Saturday invaded an estate in Minna, the Niger State capital, where they raided six flats and carted away valuables and huge sums of money, TheNigerian Metro reliably gathered.

Our correspondent learnt that the robbers suspected to be illegal miners stormed the MI Wushishi Estate in Minna around 2 am and operated for over one hour without any challenge from security operatives.

Sources in the estate who spoke to TheNigerian Metro on Monday condemned the attack saying it was becoming too regular. One of them who gave his name as Abdullahi Abubakar told our correspondent how suspected robbers also attacked the estate of over 700 flats and a vast expanse of land and robbed several houses in November. He also said due to the large deposit of gold on the land, the illegal miners had refused to allow the residents to enjoy any peace.

One of the residents, a son of an ex-Head of Service in Niger State, Dan Yaya, told our correspondent of his encounter with some of the robbers who attacked his home and demanded money. He said he suspected that some of the robbers had insiders who gave them information.

Yaya said the robbers demanded money but eventually settled for what he could give them and took away all their handsets. Yaya also revealed that after that set of robbers had gone, another set of robbers stormed the estate around 3.30 am that same morning.

“My wife went to the toilet around 2 am; so, after coming out from the toilet, normally, I was the one who taught her that anytime she wakes up, she should open the window and just check around. So, when she came out of the toilet, she opened the window. The next thing she saw was somebody standing in front of my car. A car I parked outside the gate. She now asked, who was there? And the person responded that he was a vigilante.

“She replied to him, ‘If you are a vigilante, why are you standing by that car’? The next thing she saw was two people jumping the fence and coming into the house. She rushed down to the parlour and made for the door because I have two flats and I was with my second wife. Then, she ran to her room and pinned the door. That was the time she called my number.

“When my number started ringing, she put the phone under her bed. Immediately she put the phone under her bed, they were able to access the two doors, the parlour and her room. So, they came in. That was the time I picked up the call to say, ‘Hello!’ I heard her voice very far, then, heard a male voice saying, ‘Where is your husband? That is the reason I decided to come.’ I rushed out when I heard that voice. I knew they were armed robbers.

According to him, “I quickly entered the toilet and used my phone to call a policeman who gave me a neighbour’s number. The neighbour was guarding one of the estate chairman’s houses. When I dialled the number, unfortunately, the guy said he was in the village. From there, the robbers entered my second flat. When they entered the flat, they pushed my wife and asked, ‘Where is your husband?’  She told them she did not know. They said if I didn’t come out, they would kill her. I had no option because I left my two children with her.

“I said why would I be in the toilet when they were saying they wanted to kill her? So, I opened the toilet and came out. When I came out, they said I should give them money. I said I didn’t have money. Then, the one wearing a face mask was the reason why I have a strong belief that either they used to come with people living in MI Wushishi or they have an informant from MI Wushishi.

“I told them that I only came into the house with N29,000 which was my brother’s project. Apart from that, I said I could give them the chance to search everywhere because I didn’t have a dime. That was when a strategy came to my wife and she said, ‘Since it is just money, why don’t you add up with the phones’?

When TheNigerian Metro contacted the Commissioner for Homeland Security, Muhammad Bello, on Monday, he confirmed the robbery incident and assured the public that the security agencies were on top of the situation to restore peace to the state capital.

“The thing happened there but what brought me there’s the issue. I don’t stay in MI Wushishi, but the security agencies are on top of the incident.  But you know, the sad thing is that they do it and get away. They have caused havoc, panic and embarrassment to the government, so any other thing that follows later is secondary,” Bello said.

The spokesman for the Niger State Police Command, Wasiu Abiodun, on Tuesday, said they had not received any report of such an incident from any of their stations when our correspondent contacted him for reaction.

He said, “I told you that I did not receive any such report. So, something I did not get any report, you want me to confirm? I have told you what I know. That is my own position.”