The senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Mohammed Musa has raised an alarm over the renewed bandit attacks in parts of his constituency.
In a statement on Thursday in Minna, the senator decried what he referred to as a “siege” on his constituency by bandits, while urging the federal government to urgently deploy troops to halt the menace.
Daily Trust reports communities in two local government areas of Rafi and Shiroro have come under attacks by armed men operating on motorcycles within the last five-day.
The senator lamented that the attacks had forced villagers who are mostly subsistence farmers to abandon their main economic stay and flee their ancestral homes.
He also urged the Commissioner of Police and other security chiefs to come together and form a special joint taskforce in order to address the situation.
“I call on heads of the Police, the military and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps in the state to take immediate step to tackle the renewed attacks by gunmen in Rafi and Shiroro local government areas which have plunged residents into unnecessary sufferings and lack.
“In the last few days, our people have not had a moment of peace. They are on the run, forced to flee their homes and dispossessed of their belongings by the attackers. This cannot go on. So, I urge the Security agencies to immediately take action to handle the situation,” Musa lamented.
He also urged the security agencies to investigate possible cases of connivance between any person or persons residing in the area and the bandits, with a view to fishing them out and arresting them.
He commended Governor Abubakar Bello for directing the Niger State Emergency Management Agency to provide temporary shelter for the displaced persons as well as providing them relief materials to help cushion the effects of their sufferings.
