The Senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Senator Mohammed Sani Musa, has described as “worrisome” the continued raids on communities in Niger State by armed bandits that have devastated the lives of many locals in the past three months.

Senator Musa, who said the siege has led to over 80 deaths, over 100 wounded and about a thousand others rendered homeless, called on the Federal Government to “as a matter of urgency and national importance, immediately dispatch the military to tackle the renewed spate of attacks on the affected communities.”

Over 50 communities across Rafi, Shiroro and Munya local government areas of the state are currently under siege by armed bandits who have continued to terrorize people with reckless abandon.

Senator Sani in a statement in Minna on Thursday said if the current situation was not immediately brought under control by deploying the military to the area, it would lead to a humanitarian crisis, stressing that “at the moment the people are already running out of food, water and other essential things at their temporary camp because they escaped from the bandits’ onslaught without taking anything with them.”

While commending the effort of the police so far, the Senator called for a renewed vigour on the part of other security agencies in their fight against banditry in the northcentral state.

Senator Musa urged the Commissioner of Police and other security chiefs to come together and form a special joint taskforce that would strengthen operations in the communities under siege, adding that “right now, the displaced communities have nowhere to go; they have lost everything. The situation is more worrisome because this is planting season and they have been forced to leave their homes and farms.

“I call on heads of the police, the military and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in the state to take immediate steps 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,” Senator Sani Musa added.

He also urged the security agencies to investigate possible cases of connivance between any person or persons residing in the affected communities and the bandits with a view to finding and arresting them.

“I call on the police to carry out investigation and identify any person or persons who have links with the bandits so as to ensure that they are arrested and brought to justice. Similarly, I enjoin the people to volunteer useful information to the police to enable them carry out their investigations,” the lawmaker said.

He pointed out that, “It hurts to see our people running helter skelter due to the operations by bandits. They have been sacked from their homes and almost all they have laboured for taken from them. As their representative, I am really pained,” he said.

The Senator commended the state Governor Abubakar Bello for directing the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) to provide temporary shelter for the displaced persons, as well as providing them with relief materials to help cushion the effects of their sufferings.