The Borno state governor, Professor Babagana Zulum, has said that it is necessary for the state security council to meet and re-strategise as an approach to securing the state.
The governor made the reaction over the weekend due to the new spate of killings and abductions of travelers along the Maiduguri-Damaturu road highway.
Zulum expressed worries over the new trends which according to him call for urgent action.
“Honestly, I heard the news and its very disturbing. We will meet again with the security agencies to re-strategize our efforts to contain the situation along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway”. the governor said.
The governor while speaking to journalists noted that something is going wrong and something urgent has to be done.
Banditry in Niger and Kaduna states
Armed bandits on the loose have left three persons killed in Niger state and four in Kaduna state.
The attack which happened in Madaka village in Rafi local government area resulted in the killing of the leader of the local vigilante group, Alhaji Ishaku Alhassan, his son Abdulhameed and one other man in the community.
According to reports, several villagers were also wounded by the bandits while the district head of the area, Alhaji Zakari Yoo, who was recently released after spending about three months in the custody of bandits, was again kidnapped.
Reports according to national television, Channels TV news, say over 5,000 locals in the state are kept in several temporary camps provided by the state government.
However, the government of the state says it is not resting on its horse until the bandits are dislodged from their hideouts.
The attack on Sunday have been described as one of a series of attacks in recent times in Niger state.
Furthermore, in Kaduna state, over four people have been reportedly killed in another reprisal attack in Zango Kataf local government area of the state. This incident came barely twenty four hours after seven people were murdered in what was described by security agencies as a reprisal killing in Karu and Lere local government areas of the state.
The Kaduna state commissioner for Internal security and home affairs, Samuel Haruwan, who confirmed the incident says the military and police authorities informed the state government about the attack and that four persons were killed.
Governor Nasir El-rufai in his condolence message asked aggrieved individuals and groups to seek recourse through the law instead of resulting to illegal and violent methods of settling grievances.
In the meantime, troops of the operation safe haven and special forces are still carrying out operations in Karu and Zango Kataf local government areas to maintain peace and order.
Nigeria losing its Northern region to banditry
In April 2020, armed bandits killed two people and rustled about 2,000 cattle in a renewed attack on Erena in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.The incident also left several other people injured while the bandits, numbering over hundred, shot sporadically, killing two people and forcing many villagers to run to the bush for safety.
In November 2020, BBC’s Hausa language service, which covers northern Nigeria, reported a remarkable story of 12 Nigerian police officers being kidnapped along the Katsina-Zamfara expressway in the country’s northwest region.
REPORT AFRIQUE had earlier published several reports on the abduction of the schoolboys in Government science secondary school in Kankara as well as 84 Islamic school students in Dandume town, northwestern Nigeria, who were quickly rescued by security forces after a fierce gun battle.
The incident is the latest in a growing list of attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria’s northwest that have often been under-reported in Nigeria’s national media and almost hardly ever covered by international media.
For the past decade and more, Nigeria has been battling the deadly Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram in an insurgency that has cost up to 30,000 lives and displaced 2.3 million people in and around the northeast region of the country.
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