The Senate on Tuesday asked the relevant security agencies to take firm and prompt actions against the resurgence of banditry in the country.
The lawmakers also demanded full implementation of the recommendations of the Ad-Hoc Committee on Nigeria Security Challenges.
The resolution were sequel to two motions to address rising banditry in Niger and Katsina states sponsored by Senators Sani Musa and Bello Mandiya, representing Niger East and Katsina south, respectively.
Senator Musa, while presenting his motion, said banditry had since become a daily incident in Niger, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna and Zamfara states.
He recalled attacks on several communities in Niger State on the 22nd of April, 25th of April, and 6th to 10th May 2020 with attendant loss of lives and properties.
He said: “On the 22nd of April this year, bandits struck communities of Madaka, Bakacin, Hatsi, Tunga Bako, Uregi, Ushsma, Sambuga, Ufaka and Pangu Gari Maguga in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State where some members of the communities including nine vigilantees were killed, kidnapped and valuables carted away.”
His counterpart from Katsina State decried “the rising wave of coordinated armed attacks in several parts of Katsina State by bandits which have led to mass killings of persons.”
He told his colleagues that the bandits who engaged in cattle rustling and kidnapping have displaced a lot of people from their ancestral lands.
He called for prompt attention from government as he raised the alarm that people in the affected communities could resort to self help.
Contributing to the motion, Senate Leader and senator representing Niger North, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, noted that the issue of insecurity in the country had been debated many times at both Chambers of the National Assembly with resolutions passed.
The Senate in its resolutions urged the Federal Government to establish a permanent military base at the boundary between Alawa and Uregi areas of Shiroro and Rafi local government areas of Niger State to restore confidence in the security and safety of the affected communities.
It further mandated the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, to form a military operation “to mop-up the bandits in their abode at Bakacin Hatsi along Madaka town and Uregi, the Alawa axis as well as Kamuku forest in Niger State.”
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