Gunmen strike again abduct Katsina lawmaker’s wife, children

Gunmen suspected to be bandits have abducted the wife and two children of a lawmaker representing Bakori at the Katsina State House of Assembly, Dr. Ibrahim Aminu Kurami.

A family source, Muhammad Kurami, told newsmen that the assailants stormed the village around 9pm on Saturday and attacked the Senator’s residence.

“The bandits drove in on motorbikes and cars around 9pm Saturday night, blockaded the Funtua-Katsina road for minutes while the abduction of the Kurami family went on at his home.

“Immediately after Ishaa’i prayers we started hearing gunshots in the town, before we knew it they already positioned themselves in the strategic places of the town to avert any possible move by the residents to engage them

“They went straight to the home of the Honourable Member and made away with his wife and two children”, he said.

He said a neighbor of the lawmaker, Malam Ubaidu Abdulhakim, was shot by the bandits while he was trying to help the family.

“He has been rushed to a hospital in the town”, he added

Another family source, Isa Sulaiman however said the lawmaker was in Katsina when the bandits attacked his home.

“I had returned from Bakori town then and as soon as I heard that his (lawmaker’s) house was being attacked, I called him. He was, fortunately, in Katsina, so they took his wife and two children.”

He said after the operation, “as I speak to you, a group of vigilante members have launched a search team and they’re already running after the bandits.”

Dr. Ibrahim Kurami was elected lawmaker last December in a bye election following the death of the member representing Bakori Constituency in the State House of Assembly

The attack on his home comes nearly a year after Kurami himself was abducted from his residence and kept in captivity for days until a ransom was paid to secure his release.

Meanwhile, following rising incidents of kidnapping in the state, Shehu Sani, a former Kaduna lawmaker, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to save Katsina State from bandits.

Raising a ‘Save our Soul’ alarm on Twitter this Sunday morning, Shehu tweets : “While the elder brother of the Katsina state Secretary to the Government is still in the hands of bandits, the terrorists have struck again this night and kidnapped the wife of a member of State House of Assembly Dr Ibrahim Kurami. It’s time for the President to save Katsina state.”

Katsina is the home State of President Muhammadu Buhari.