A village head, Mallam Abdullahi Zaure, and 49 others have been kidnapped by suspected armed bandits in an attack on Fugge community in the Rijau Local Government Area of Niger State.
According to a community member who requested anonymity, the majority of those abducted during the attack last Friday were women and children, with only a few being male.
The attackers reportedly arrived on motorcycles and began shooting in the air to intimidate the villagers in broad daylight. Many cattle were also stolen during the incident.
The Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, was unavailable for comment.
The incident is the latest in a series of attacks by gunmen in Nigeria’s North-West and North-Central regions, with abductions for ransom and intercommunal attacks on the rise.
Nigeria is facing several security challenges, including the jihadist conflict in the northeast and separatist tensions in the southeast.