Youths of Shiroro in Shiroro Local Government said it is highly risky to trust in the Niger State Government to provide security from incessant banditry attacks as dependence will amount to double jeopardy.
The youths through their leader, Bello Ibrahim of Concerned Shiroro Youths, told newsmen in Minna that the people of the area can no longer fold their hands and watch the government take decisions that cannot guarantee the needed safety and security of the people.
It would be recalled that Shiroro Local Government has been under siege from armed bandits that have claimed several lives and property worth millions of naira destroyed.
The angry youths said, “The continued silence over the atrocities being perpetrated by criminals in the face of government inaction could be misconstrued as tacit approval. We can’t afford to be too complacent and place heavy reliance on the Government as it dishes out all sorts of bogus promises laced with a plethora of assurance. It is highly risky, hence our public outcry.”
“These attacks that started like child’s play around 2015 have metamorphosed into a cataclysmic catastrophe, with women raped, children orphaned, able bodied youths killed, villages sacked, and destroyed, cattle rustled, farm produce destroyed, properties stolen and people kidnapped for ransom.
“Since this trouble began, hundreds of millions of naira have been stolen or paid in ransom, economic and social potentials of Shiroro Local Government have crippled. Means of livelihood destroyed and thousands of citizens displaced. Our survival as a people is bleak and uncertain.”
The leader of the youths group noted that they have consistently drawn the attention of governments at all levels to their plights, albeit, reverse has been the case.
” We are no longer secured and safe in Shiroro LG, what is left for these bandits is to hoist their flag and lay claim to Shiroro. Our patience is exhausted. Must the Government at all levels wait until we are exterminated and our communities and villages wiped out on the world map before doing the needful? It is that bad.”
Ibrahim warned that if nothing is done within two weeks to holistically address the insecurity challenges, the people would be mobilized to abdicate from any civic responsibilities in the state.
