Deploy Security Agents in Kebbi LGs to Curtail Banditry, Cattle Rustling, House Tells Buhari

Udora Orizu in Abuja

The House of Representatives has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy massively all the law enforcement agencies to conduct a rigorous operation that will bring to an end banditry and cattle rustling in
Wasagu/Danko and Sakaba Local Government Areas of Kebbi State and other affected local governments.

The House also urged the president to direct the Air Force to deploy super Tucano to bombard all the bandits and their camps, as well as direct the Chief of Defence Staff and Inspector General of Police to, as a matter of urgency, set up commands in the affected areas.

The resolutions were sequel to the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance sponsored by Hon. Kabir Ibrahim Tukura.

Moving the motion, Tukura noted that bandits are moving in hundreds from village to village, house to house, in Wasagu/Danko and Sakaba LGAs of Kebbi State in search of cattle to rustle; innocent civilians to kidnap; foodstuffs to set ablaze and women to rape.

He said the House is aware that the bandits now conduct their criminal operations in broad daylight riding on motorbikes with not less than two to three criminals per bike, carrying sophisticated guns and ammunition.

He said the current strategy for combatting the security challenge is not enough to surmount the challenges, adding that the peace-loving residents of the affected areas are homeless and economically worthless.

Tukura said: “The bandits have taken over the control of Yar-Kuka, Morai, Dan-kade, within Waje District of Wasagu chiefdom. Furthermore, in Bena District, over 100 people were abducted in Bana Dan-ummaru, Tunburku, Mairairai and Ayu. Specifically, in Ayu, the residents were forced to flee to Wasagu and Bena Areas. On the 19th February, 2022, the bandits in hundreds passed through Waje, Sabon-layi, Zuttu and Kangon Wasagu, where they killed so many people and rustled over 1,000 cows.

“This incidence has therefore increased the number of IDPs in Waje, Ribah, Kanya and Wasagu all in Wasagu/Danko LGA.
Disturbed that the good people of Doka, Ganyale, Morai, Ktare, Banku-mutare, Bawada, Tungar-Dangula, Tungar Galla, Gimi, Zagami, Kahalmo and Chud-kubu all under Waje District in Wasagu Chiefdom Wasagu/Danko LGAs have fled to different destinations in search of their safety.”

Adopting the motion, the lawmakers observed a minute silence in honour of all the departed souls in the country due to terrorism, banditry and separatists.

In a similar vein, the lawmakers adopting a motion sponsored by Hon. Lawrence Babatunde Ayeni, urged the Inspector General of Police (IG), Usman Alkali Baba, and the Director General of State Security Services (DSS) to end the killings of innocent citizens by suspected cultists in Ijesaland by deploying their officers to the affected area in a bid to return normalcy and restore peace and order.

The House mandated its Joint Committee on Defence, Police and Army to interface with relevant authorities with a view to save lives and properties.

It also mandated the police and DSS to run an investigation on the recovered abandoned branded vehicle.

Ayeni had, while moving the motion, noted that Atakumosa East/Atakumosa West, Ilesa East and Ilesa West Federal Constituency of Osun State have been the most peaceful localities in the South-west region of the country.

He however lamented that the suspected members of the yet-to-be identified cultist group have over the past three months embarked on merciless murder of unsuspecting residents in the area.

He expressed concerns that the residents of the areas can no longer sleep with their two eyes closed at night nor able to go about their lawful businesses during the day-time as a result of the life-threatening incidences.

He warned that if the ugly incidences are not nipped in the bud, it may cause a breakdown of law and order, as well as escalate to other parts of the state.