From John Adams Minna
Worried by the rising cases of thuggery and youth restiveness in the state, particularly Minna, the Niger State House of Assembly has vowed to revisit all the necessary laws with a view to bringing the situation under control.
The Assembly, after a three-hour meeting with the Commissioner of Police, the Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and heads of other security agencies, yesterday, the lawmakers said it would not hesitate to pass a law to make thuggery a capital offence in the state.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the meeting, the Speaker, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, said activities of youths involved in thuggery and tormenting innocent citizens in the Minna metropolis had crossed the red line and it was time to take a decisive action to end the menace.
He warned that any politician or individual found to be behind miscreants and criminals causing mayhem in the state, would not only be exposed but also dealt with according to relevant laws of the state.
“As representatives of the people, we cannot fold our hands and see some criminals hiding under thuggery to make lives miserable for the people.
“Activities of these youths unleashing terror on the people have crossed the red line and the time to take decisive action and bring the situation under control is now.”
The Speaker expressed regrets that while the present administration was doing everything possible to address insecurity in parts of the state occasioned by activities of bandits and insurgents, another form of security challenges was rearing its head.
He pointed out that apart from threat to lives and property, the activities of the criminals was capable of rubbishing the successes so far recorded by the government in the area of infrastructural transformation and investment drives.
“No investor will want to come and invest in an unsecured environment and that is why we will not allow the current situation to derail the ‘New Niger Agenda’ of this administration.
“We will revisit all necessary laws and possibly make laws that will make thuggery capital offence because many lives have been lost to this thuggery in the state.
“We will make it hard for these criminals who are disguising as thugs. We will make thuggery a capital offence in the state. The state will no longer console any act of thuggery.”
Sarkindaji assured that the Assembly would give the state police command the necessary support it needed with a view to addressing the current situation, stressing that, “we will liaise with the executive arm of the government to help provide the necessary logistics to the police and other security agencies in the state,” he added.