Niger State Wants More Military Operations in LGs Dominated by Terrorists, Pleads with FG

Laleye Dipo

The Niger State Government has appealed to the federal government to direct more military operations in terrorists infested local government areas of the state.

The state government named the affected local government areas as Shiroro, Munya and Rafi.

The Commissioner for Local Government and Internal Security, Mr. Emmanuel Umar, in a statement made available to journalists yesterday said that more military operations would lead to the elimination of the terrorists, thereby making it easy for the villagers to return to the farms from where they have been sacked by the terrorists.

Umar, who expressed delight that the previous operations led to the neutralisation of many terrorists while many arms and ammunitions were recovered, said many people who were kidnapped were rescued by the joint military operation during the exercise.

“The efforts of the joint operations have yielded a lot of success which the state is happy about as many bandits and terrorists have already been eliminated in the affected LGAs.

“While the state government appreciates the victories recorded during these operations, it also looks forward to a sustained operation to eradicate bandits from the state. These efforts will no doubt restore confidence in the communities within the area, which will enable them return back to their farms,” the commissioner said.

Umar, however, disputed the claim that during one of the ground operations by the security forces some civilians were killed saying “to the best of the knowledge of the state government, there are no civilians resident in these areas for some time now due to the infiltrations and activities.”