Senate asks IG to beef up security in communities under bandits attack

The Senate has on Wednesday, December 4, 2019 called on the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu, to beef up security in various communities across the country.

The lawmakers also urged Service Chiefs and security agencies to deploy personnel to parts of Niger State being attacked by bandits.

According to TheNation, the lawmakers also asked National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to urgently provide relief materials to the affected communities in Niger state.

During plenary on Wednesday, Sen. Sani Musa representing APC-Niger East and Sen. Sandy Onor representing Cross River Central had raised motions on the menace of bandits in Niger and incessant cases of militancy, killings and kidnapping in Boki local government area in Cross River State respectively.

Musa said bandits have taken over, the whole villages around Shiroro Local Government.

He said, “They came in their hundreds and most of them were on motorbikes and Hilux vans. I wonder how they have been able to work without any security agency intercepting them.

“I’m bringing this matter of urgency to this hallowed chamber to rise to the occasion.

The insecurity is becoming alarming and if we should allow it to continue, and we feel safe here, we are not safe.

“I urge this house to call the security chiefs order. The security architecture in that area is not working. The bandits in Katsina and Zamfara are all in Niger. It is beyond the Nigerian police.”

On his part, Onor lamented over the crisis involving three communities: Ise-Obendege, Boje and Sadom in Boki Local Government in Cross River State.

He said, “Boki is a very critical and strategic Local Government in Cross River State and falls within my constituency.

“It is germane that this Senate should lend its voice to finding ways and means of ending this crisis that has claimed many lives and property.”

Reacting to the motions, Senate President Ahmad Lawan urged the security agencies to act as quickly as possible to repel the attacks and assaults by the bandits in the affected communities.