Seven farmers have been killed in Baban Rami in Mashegu Local Government Area of the state by bandits.

The Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Matane confirmed this to Channels Television on Saturday via a telephone conversation, saying the incident occurred on New Year’s Eve.

He said the bandits had laid ambush on the farmers who had gone to their farms to harvest their produce.

According to him, the bandits had earlier demanded ransom from the farmers before they could harvest their produce.

But the farmers refused to give in to their threats and decided to seek for the protection of some vigilante members.

Matane explained that after the harvest, one of the drivers, however, decided to move ahead with some farmers, and in the process were attacked by the bandits who killed seven of them.

Asked why the information was just coming to public domain, the Niger state SSG said government had wanted to be sure of the numbers before making any pronouncement.

“We were not sure of the number of the persons killed. We wanted to be sure. So, we just got the accurate figure,” he said.

It is the first time that bandits would launch attacks on Baban Rami.

Matane said the state government would set up a coordinated operation in Mashegu to dislodge the bandits.

He said the state government condemned the attack and other attacks recently carried out in the state.

At least over fifty people have been killed by bandits in Niger State since renewed banditry attacks in January, 2020.

The latest attack comes barely one week after the district head of Madaka in Rafi Local Government Area of the state, Ya’u Idris was killed by gunmen days after he was abducted from his home by the same people.

At the moment, many farmers are not able to go to their farms to harvest their produce due to insecurity.