The member representing Mashi/Dutsi federal constituency in the National Assembly, Sani Bello, has been kidnapped.

The member was picked up from his farm at Gobirawa village of Birnin Gwari area of Kaduna State.

The spokesman of the Katsina State Police Command, Salisu Abubakar, who confirmed the incident, said the state command and its Kaduna counterpart were liaising to address the situation.

Sources at the Katsina Government House told Daily Trust that the state governor, Aminu Masari, who had given full support for the manhunt of the kidnappers, asked that everything possible be done to ensure his safe return.

Mashi, 51, has been in the federal legislature since 2011 and had previously served in the Katsina State House of Assembly. He was also the chairman of Mashi Local Government Area.

Mashi who is a holder of Higher National Diploma (HND) obtained in 1996 from the Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic, targets to make laws that would bring development to his constituency, according to the website of the National Assembly.

He is of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Villages around the Birnin Gwari axis, including Goburawa from where Sani Bello has been abducted, have in recent times been haunted by bandits.

Thousands of people in the villages have lived in fear of the armed bandits believed to dwell in a thick forest sharing boundaries with Zamfara, Niger and Katsina states, from where they plan and repeatedly launch attacks on villagers and road users mostly around Birnin Gwari, killing some people and abducting others. (Daily Trust)

•Photo shows kidnapped lawmaker Sani Bello.

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