Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has given a rundown of the battle his government has been engaged in with bandits in the state.
The Governor, who spoke to newsmen today, January 18, shortly after given President Muhammadu Buhari an update on the security situation in the State, with regard to banditry activities, kidnapping and cattle rustling among others, said he is sad with the situation.
“In the last few days, there have been a lot of activities in Niger State.
“In January this year alone, we suffered not less than 50 reported attacks and loss of lives, between 1st and 17th January. Within the same period, not less than 300 communities have been invaded by bandits.
“The number of people kidnapped is 200, including three Chinese nationals. We also lost some security personnel. Their number is 25. “Unfortunately, we lost about 165 civilians and 30 local vigilantes. So, it’s a very dire situation that we have been battling in the last few weeks since the beginning of this year.”
Governor Abubakar Bello who said that he is very optimistic with the kind of zeal he had seen from the security agencies and all services, said that there is still a lot of work to do.
“We share borders with Kaduna, Zamfara, and Kebbi States. And these bandits have the habit of hibernating between forests, moving from Zamfara to Kebbi, and Kebbi to Niger. They take advantage of the cattle routes which they already know.
“They move on motorcycles. And most of the areas and communities they attack have no access roads. So, you cannot drive there. So, our response time is slow.
“What I realized is that they have been taking us on a merry-go-round. “When we deal with them in Niger, they move to Kaduna. When Kaduna deals with them, they move to Katsina. They have been hibernating in the forest. Some of these operations need to be handled simultaneously so that we get the result.
“We are not happy and we are sad with the developments in these states. We are doing whatever we can, using kinetic and non kinetic efforts to see that we address the present situation.”
The governor said however that, in spite of gloomy picture “I’m very optimistic that the situation will be addressed. And hopefully, we should get a very peaceful state within the shortest possible time.”
He said that going forward, there will be new strategies that will help the government in the battle.
“I can’t disclose some of these strategies. But basically, the States of Kaduna, Niger, Kebbi would have to work together to address the situation.
“As we go on, we will try to update you from time to time on progress being made in this fight.”
