Senator Cries out as Bandits Overrun Niger Communities

Laleye Dipo in Minna

As bandits continue to run riot, killing and kidnapping people in the Niger East Senatorial zone of Niger State, the Senator representing the area, Sani Musa has cried out to the federal government to come to the rescue of his people.

No fewer than 30 villagers have been kidnapped in recent weeks in the senatorial zone, most of them women.
While five of the kidnap victims were reportedly killed, one was severely injured by the bandits.
An entire community in Munya Local Government Area (LGA), according to reports from the area, has also been taken over by the bandits who used it as their camp.

Musa described the latest development in his senatorial district as unacceptable and asked the federal government and the security agencies to do the needful by rescuing “my people from the hands of these blood-thirsty marauders.”
He lamented that the heightened insecurity in the Munya LGA has rendered the villagers jobless as they can no longer access their farmlands and other means of livelihood.

The senator noted that his constituency accounts for almost 60  per cent of food production in the entire Niger State, adding that as a result of the activities of bandits and terrorists, 80 per cent of these farmers have been forced to leave their farms and homes.
“The latest attack and acts of terrorism targeted at my people by these criminal elements are inhuman, wicked and unacceptable. The people have been forced out of their farm lands and their ancestral homes, and have been turned into refugees in their own land, this is unfortunate,” Musa added.
“I seriously feel the pain of my people; it is very sad to see people being forced out of their homes without committing any crime. My people are helpless and the authority must act immediately to restore normalcy in the communities”.

Musa asked the federal government, the armed forces, and other security agencies to “stand together and rise to the occasion, to bring this ugly situation under control”, adding that the situation if allowed to continue, would frustrate the food security programme of the government.
Meanwhile, eight women were among the 23 people kidnapped last Thursday after gunmen raided the Tsohon Kabula community in the Munya LGA.
A report from the area said a large number of the bandits operated on foot unlike in the past when they rode on motorcycles.

The men in the village were said to have escaped, leaving the women and girls to the mercy of the bandits.
Efforts to get police confirmation did not yield any result as the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Wasiu Abiodun did not respond to calls made to his mobile phone.