Worried by renewed attacks on rural communities by armed bandits, the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ), Niger State Council chapter, has appealed to the Buhari-led administration not to abandon Niger State to armed bandits, whose sustained encroachments is causing more harm and untold hardship to the entire citizens of the State.
The journalists in the State also demanded that President Buhari lives up to his statutory responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of the citizenry by flushing out armed bandits that have taken over some local government areas just as he did to other States with a similar security challenge.
The NUJ, in a communiqu issued at the end of its Congress which took place in Minna, the State capital, expressed its worry that killings, abductions and destruction of peoples source of livelihood in rural areas have become almost a daily occurrence, hence the need for the Presidency to act fast before the criminals over-running the entire State.
The communiqu, which was jointly signed by Yunusa Abugi and Matthew Jwantu, Chairman and Secretary of the Communique Drafting Committee respectively, as well as the Council Secretary, Mohammed Usman Chiji, also expressed worry that the State capital, Minna, is fast becoming a hub for security breaches and therefore wants the state government to check the trend.
According to them, Minna and its environs is fast becoming a hide-out for people with questionable character and the security of citizenry no longer guaranteed; this, according to the journalists, does not speak well of the Abubakar Sani Bello-led administration.
Besides flushing out people with a questionable character from Minna metropolis, in particular, the union also condemned in strong terms the increasing rate of thuggery and youth restiveness which has claimed lives in the State capital, and advised that the State government come up with a mechanism that would involve both parents and community leaders in curbing the menace.
