Step-up Operations Against Bandits, Kidnappers – Reps Task Service Chiefs

House of Representatives has urged the security chiefs to step up operations against bandits and kidnappers terrorising communities in Plateau State.

In a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by member
representating
Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam federal constituency of Plateau State, Yusuf Gagdi, the Lawmaker
drew attention to a recent surge in killings, abductions, and cattle rustling in the Garga area of Kanam Local Government.

Leading the debate, Mr Gagdi said the situation had worsened in recent months, with armed groups attacking villages, destroying markets, and forcing farmers to abandon their farmlands.

He described the murder of the Village Head of Shuwaka, Hudu Alhassan Musa, after his abduction, and the continued captivity of another community leader, Zubairu Garba Usman, as “deeply distressing”.

The lawmaker warned that forest reserves linking Plateau, Taraba, and Bauchi states had become safe havens for criminal gangs, allowing them to operate across state lines with little resistance.

Mr Gagdi, who also chairs the House Committee on Navy, reminded his colleagues that he had raised similar concerns on three previous occasions but that the insecurity had persisted due to weak enforcement and lack of coordination among security agencies.

Adopting the motion, the House called for a Forward Operation Base to be established in Garga, alongside new police and civil defence divisions in nearby communities.

It also urged the Department of State Services to expand its operations to the area.

Lawmakers further appealed to the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the National Emergency Management Agency to assist victims of both insecurity and recent flooding that destroyed homes and farmlands across the constituency.

Oduyemi Odumade, Edited By Grace Namiji