Senator representing Niger East Senatorial District, Sani Musa, says no one can predict the next school or state bandits will attack in the country.
Musa said the abductors of students and members of staff of Government Science College, Kagara, in Niger State, were terrorists and not bandits.
Musa told Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme on Wednesday, “I don’t call them bandits, I call them terrorists.
“It has happened in Chibok, it has happened in Dapchi, it has happened in Kankara, it has happened in Kagara; we cannot guarantee where next. So, necessary steps have to be taken.”
Recall that some students and staff of GSS Kagara were kidnapped when bandits stormed the school on Wednesday morning. A student was also reportedly killed by the bandits during the attack.
Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, had ordered the immediate closure of all boarding schools in the bandit-ravaged areas.
Senate had also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately declare a state of emergency on security.
Senate made the call following a point of order by Senator Musa on the abduction of students and staff of the school.
But while speaking hours later on the television programme, the senator said, “It is really very bad. Just yesterday (Tuesday), about 19 people lost their lives in Niger East Senatorial District to the bandits…It is continuous, we have cried and cried over this issue.
“It is very important for the Federal Government to put the security situation of this country as the most priority of government. No matter the development we are talking about, no matter the palliatives we are giving to people, if there is no security, it is as good as not doing anything.
“I stand to be corrected. Is there anyone that is immune to the insecurity of this country? The Federal Government is overwhelmed. We need to do something about it (insecurity).”
Wednesday’s attack happened a few months after bandits kidnapped over 300 schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina State.
The incident happened in December exactly on the same day the President visited his home town in Daura, also in Katsina.
The school boys were, however, released some six days later but it wasn’t clear whether ransom was paid or not to secure their freedom.
Aside from Kankara and Kagara, non-state actors had also abducted hundreds of secondary school girls from Chibok, in Borno State; and Dapchi in Yobe State. Some of them eventually regained freedom while a number of them were detained in the enclaves of their abductors and sexual abusers.