The Senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Alhaji Sani Musa has accused the government of doing little or nothing to stop the escalating bandits attacks in the state, especially in his constituency, saying that the people have been left at the mercy of armed bandits.
Senator Sani Musa said the security situation has been made worse following the closure and the subsequent withdrawal of both the military and the police from their bases aftermath of attacks on their camps by bandits.
The senator who stated this while reacting to the Wednesday attack on a military camp in Zagzaga community in Munya Local Government Area of the state by armed bandits, the second of such attack within one month, in a statement pointed out that: “I have had reasons to call on the federal government to address the issue of insecurity in my constituency, the Niger East Senatorial zone of Niger State, but either by commission or omission no serious efforts has been made to bring the situation to normal.
“In fact, the insecurity situation in the zone especially in Rafi, Shiroro, Munya LGA has continued to get worse with villagers (my constituents) being killed, maimed daily and their property dispossessed daily.”
According to him, the attack on military camp at Zagzaga is another ugly incident in the history of insecurity in Niger East Senatorial Zone, adding that, “for years now these people cannot earn a living for themselves because insurgents and bandits have taken over their farmlands. Several of the villages have also been deserted because of the activities of these blood thirsty villains”.
He lamented that the situation has become more complicated to the extent that the few bases where semblance of security used to exist have been wiped out totally by these bandits.
“Despite our appeals, the military and the police have refused to restore the Special Task Force sacked from Allawa and Bassa, leaving the communities to the mercy of bandits who raid their villages daily demanding huge ransom from the families of those kidnapped,” he said.
The senator expressed worries that with the closure of the military camp at Allawa and Bassa, and the latest one at Zagzaga, “it means that in the whole of Shiroro and Munya local government, there is no single policeman or soldier to provide security for these armless villagers.”
