Bandits Takeover 8 Wards In Niger Sate

Muhammadu Buhari (left) Abubakar Sani Bello (right)

Authorities in Shiroro local government area of Niger state have confirmed that a total of eight wards in the state have been taken over by bandits. 

About 300 bandits on motor bikes invaded Gurmana village in Shiroro local government area on 8^th February, rustled over 200 cows, at least 5 people were killed and another 1200 others displaced. 

Bandits Kill 5 displace 1200 In Fresh Attacks

Confirming this, the chairman of Shiroro local government, Comrade Sulaiman Dauda Chukuba, asserted that the games reserve in Alawa ward of the local government which gives a lot of forest cover could be the reason bandits are drawn to the area. 

He went further to suggest that the games reserve be converted into a military barrack as was done in parts of Borno state. The chairman, while speaking to news men, advised the IDPs in 6 camps to relocate to other areas to allow for cleanup operations by security forces. 

Records show that bandits have terrorized the local government for 7 years now but, the terror only got this bad recently.

Weeks ago, Niger state governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, Emir of Minna, Umar Faruk Bahago, and immediate past governor, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, visited the president, Muhammadu Buhari, at the presidential palace, Aso rock, to lament the growing insecurity in the state. During the meeting, Buhari promised to offer military support to the state.

Niger state governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, was made the chairman of the North Central Governors Forum in a security summit organized by the Nigerian police Force on 23rd January.

On 25th January, the federal government ordered the deployment of military equipment, including air crafts, to fight bandits in the affected local governments of Shiroro, Paikoro, Munya, Rafi and others.

On the same day 25th January, 11 people were killed and 4 women were kidnapped when bandits attacked Rafi local government. The bandits were said to utilize helicopters.

Between June and December 2019 alone, at least 62 people were killed by bandits operating in the state while over 3, 200 others were forced to abandon their homes and become IDPs.

Fighting insecurity, particularly in Northern Nigeria, was a major campaign promise of Muhammadu Buhari when he pleaded to be voted for in 2015. It has become another item on the to do list of the administration

The coming of the APC governments at state and federal levels in Nigeria spearheaded by Muhammadu Buhari has brought about a drastic reduction in Boko Haram activities but a concomitant astronomical rise in banditry, kidnapping and massacres by suspected herdsmen.