The Bare community in Numan Local Government Area of Adamawa State has been thrown into a state of confusion after unknown gunmen were seen burning down houses and other structures there, including a Catholic seminary.
The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Yola, Stephen Mamza, confirmed the destruction of the Catholic Seminary, complaining that the authorities were late in deploying security personnel.
He said the information he had received indicated that the invaders stormed the community in their hundreds and operated unhindered for several hours.
“Our reverend father’s house was burnt and there’s no house around the area that is standing now. They have burnt all the houses.
“All my parishioners have left. Nobody can live there,” he said.
The bishop added that after a previous attack and people fled, about 50 per cent of them had returned and reconstructed their houses.
“The people are now back to square one because their houses have been destroyed completely,” he lamented.
The Adamawa State Police Command admitted that the attackers succeeded in burning down several houses but did not confirm that the Catholic Seminary was among the structures razed.
The spokseman of the Command, Othman Abubakar, said the report before him did not indicate the identities of houses burnt.
Othman, who stressed that there was no human casualty, said: “There was an attack with houses burnt down but there was no loss of lives. But so far we have deployed our men to restore normalcy.”
