Worried by the rising security challenges in Niger state due to the activities of bandits, the state governor Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has declared that henceforth vigilance groups in the state would now be carrying pump action guns to enable them confront the enemies of the people across the state.
It would be recalled that the vigilantes had complained that lack of modern weapons had remained a greatest challenge in their fight against the bandits whom they said were heavily equipped with sophisticated weapons.
Speaking at Kasuwan Garba in Mariga local government area of the state when he met with over 200 members of vigilance groups in the area as part of his morale-boosting visits to vigilance groups across the state, the governor said henceforth, all vigilantes in the state would be provided with automatic pump action to enable them take the fight to the bandits in their hideouts.
Also, contrary to demands by the bandits in the state in a viral audio record asking the government to disband the vigilance groups as one of the conditions for a ceasefire, the governor said there was no amount of threat from the bandits that would force the government to disband the vigilance groups in the state.
The governor further re-emphasized the state government’s stands that it would not go into any form of negotiations with the bandits nor pay ransom for the release of kidnapped victims in the state.
He also assured them that any bandit that repented and surrendered their weapons would be reintegrated into the society and settled to live a normal life.
The governor said he was in Kasuwan Garba, one of the areas that were under siege by the bandits, to identify with the vigilantes for the loss of their members to bandits and to boost their morale in their fight against the bandits.
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