Residents of multiple Borgu communities lost relatives and neighbours after suspected bandits struck following Friday prayers, a federal lawmaker said. Jafar Muhammad Shetiman Borgu, who represents the area, said attackers entered Dekara, surrounded a mosque and took worshippers into the nearby forest. He added that the gunmen then moved into neighbouring settlements, including Gidan Zana, Sabon Gida and Masaka, and abducted more people after prayers.
The lawmaker said the exact tally of those seized has not been established. He reported that some worshippers sustained machete wounds while others escaped, and offered a brief account of the violence: “Some people managed to escape, while others sustained machete wounds,” he said. Shetiman Borgu identified youths and heads of households among those taken, signalling the abductions cut across age and family roles.
The incidents unfolded in a part of Niger State that borders Kebbi and Kwara states and the Republic of Benin, intensifying concerns about cross-border vulnerability. Local details remain limited, and the representative’s account is the principal source on the sequence of attacks and the nature of injuries reported. The pattern described — armed men entering communities immediately after prayers and leading people into the forest — reflects the timing and tactics cited by the lawmaker.
For now, residents and officials face an uncertain toll and mounting alarm over safety in Borgu. The lawmaker’s report leaves the scale of the operation unclear, and communities near state and international boundaries are left confronting the aftermath of the abductions and the visible injuries suffered by those who escaped.
