Niger Gov Says States Must Collaborate To Defeat Terrorists, Bandits

By James Orji

Governor Abubakar Sanni Bello of Niger State has called for collaboration  among contiguous states to stop the activities  of rampaging terrorists and bandits.  The governor stated this on Tuesday after he held a meeting with President  Muhammadu Buhari  in Aso Rock Presidential Villa,  Abuja. The state is among many states in the north mostly devastated by banditry and terrorism.

The state’s helmsman claimed that bandits still collect levies from communities  in the state, noting that earlier the criminals have already killed over 300 people in January alone.

Bello, who spoke to State House Correspondence said“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,” he said.

He explained that the situation in the state is now very dangerous as bandits are not prepared to back down from their criminality, calling on all the states affected to come together to fight the terrorists.

According to him,  ” it’s a very dire situation that we have been battling in the last few weeks since the beginning of this year.

“But I’m very optimistic with the kind of zeal I have seen from our security agencies and all services. I’m very optimistic that the situation will be addressed. And hopefully, we should get a very peaceful state within the shortest possible time.

“But 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.

“But going forward, there will be new strategies which I earlier mentioned. It will help us. But I can’t disclose some of those strategies. But basically, the States of Kaduna, Niger, Kebbi would have to work together to address the situation.”

“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,” Bello said.