Bandits, in the early hours of yesterday, attacked Lade community in Kakafu village of Patigi Local Government Area, Kwara State, killing a vigilante group's commander popularly known as Tetengi.

Eyewitnesses said the attackers stormed the village on Wednesday night, leaving residents in panic.

"We woke up to another tragedy our commander was shot dead while defending us," a local resident said.

The north-central state has, for some time, been grappling with recurring security threats, with rural communities often bearing the brunt of banditry.

In response, a community leader and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Opeyemi Olabanji, has called for a collective fundraising effort by prominent citizens of the Kwara South Senatorial District to curb the violence.

At a press conference held yesterday in Ilorin, the politician said the attacks have plundered the vast resources of his agrarian people by preventing them from engaging in their long-standing farming activities.

He urged residents to pool resources particularly funds towards establishing credible security networks and systems to complement "the credible efforts" of Governor AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq in securing the area.

The APC stalwart proposed a sum of N5 billion as take-off for the security network, noting that the fund could be in the custody of a prominent traditional ruler in the area.

Stating that none of the settlements could survive whatever onslaught in isolation, Olabanji said the entire people should, like some geopolitical zones in the country, make their security system homogeneous.