retrieving data from NextGen

I’m trying to retrieve the amount of images from a nextGen gallery, but I’m quite ignoramus on PHP, so I used the “build PHP code” from a phpMyAdmin query (which of course works as a query) and it didn’t work. So I tried this:

<p>This post has <?php $query = SELECT SUM(gid) ASRowsFROMwp_ngg_galleryWHEREgid> 0'; ?> pictures </p>

but it gives me the following error message:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING in /home/coco23/public_html/*****/wp-content/themes/newtheme/index.php on line 14

Any help on this subject?