•Sani Musa cries out, urges FG, security agencies to act fast
From John Adams Minna
There is no respite for communities in Niger State as gunmen have continued to unleash terror on the people, the latest being the raids on three communities across two local government areas in the state.
The latest onslaught saw the gunmen going away with 50 people, mostly women and children.
Sources close to these communities told our correspondent that in Tegina and Utoro in Shiroro local government area, 28 people including women and children were kidnaped last week Thursday ,when the gunmen struck at about 1:pm.
Also on Sunday morning at about 9:am, Kukau community in Munya LGA, came under attacks from the gunmen,who invaded the people and went away with no fewer than 17 villagers.
Of this number, 10 were women whom the gunmen used to evacuate the looted items from the community.
Although no body was killed in the two operations, but food items and other valuables were looted from the people’s houses and shops in these communities before taking their victims away.
This latest attacks were coming barely one week after some gunmen invaded Zagzaga community in Munya LGA, killed a village head, Mallam Usman Tukura, and abducted 15 people. The bandits are demanding N1million each for the release of the 15 people.
In the latest attacks, the abductors are yet to make any ransom demand,but the communities said they have been exhausted as they have sold all their farm produce and other belongings to pay ransom following frequent invasion by the bandits.
The security situation in Niger state seems to have defied every solution especially when the security agencies in the state have no antidote to confront the gunmen.
While Bandits warlord, Dogo Gide reigns supreme in communities in Shiroro and Rafi local government areas, with the people paying allegiance to him, communities in Munya and Paikoro LGAs have continued to witness invasion of the gunmen from the neighboring Kaduna state on a daily basis without any resistance.
Worried by the relentless attacks on the people and the attendant loss of lives and property, the Senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Mohammed Sani Musa, last week, took the cries of his people to the red chamber ,where he called on the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Christopher Musa, Chief of Army Staff, Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, and Inspector -General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to immediately deploy troops to defend the unarmed populace and restore security to the affected communities in the state.
According to Musa , the efforts would be the only antidote to restoring confidence in the security and safety of the affected communities.
Musa ,in a motion to this effect on the floor of the Senate, said there was urgent need for the federal government to deploy troops and other security apparatus to immediately bring an end to the menace of insurgency and terrorism in Niger state and other parts of Nigeria.
The Senator, specifically urged the chief of Army Staff and the IGP to as a matter of urgency direct the establishment of a permanent military and police command base at the axis adjoining Shiroro and Rafi LGAs respectively and to redesign the modus operandi of military operations within the affected areas to curtail the escalating insecurity.
He also told the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to as a matter of national emergency provide relief materials and medical support to the victims immediately.
According to Musa,”the Senate has passed several resolutions, set up an Ad-hoc Committee on Security, held National Security Summits, and declared every support at bringing an end to the persistent insecurity in our nation, we have appropriated monies and also advanced numerous steps to support our nation’s security agencies, yet insecurity has continued to elude the nation.
“seven years now, Niger East Senatorial District of Niger state, has come under constant and sustained multiple deadly attacks by heartless, venomous, and hydra-headed Boko Haram terrorists, who are always heavily armed with assorted sophisticated and dangerous weapons unleashing their horror on our innocent populace.
“The negative effects of atrocities committed by these heartless monsters in the period under review include among others, total collapse of the local economies of the affected victims, total collapse of the educational system in the affected areas, famine due to the collapse of agricultural activities, displacement as a result of desertion of crisis-prone areas, depopulation as a result of wanton deaths, social vices such as drug abuse and thuggery emanating from struggle for survival, trauma arising from serial rape cases and inhumane, cruel and deadly subjugation”
Unfortunately, however, he submitted that “these repeated attacks are taking place amidst the absence of slightest hindrance, resistance, or confrontation from the authorities concerned.
“Cognisance that about 42 communities across the two LGAs of Shiroro and Munya LGA, have so far fallen under the Boko Haram control with about 5,000 villagers already displaced in the last three days. “They have kidnapped many and their wives seized from them and forcefully attached to Boko Haram members”, adding further that “Three military camps in Allawa, Bassa, and Zagzaga in the two LGAs have been sacked and some security personnel killed by the insurgents in the last one month of renewed attacks”.
He disclosed that the Boko Haram terrorist have mounted their flags in many of the villages they have captured such as Kaure, Alawa, and Magami. Inhabitants of these war-torn parts of the state have been abandoned and left to their fate thereby compelling them to wallow in perpetual agony and abject misery.