Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, has said that the bandits troubling the north have aligned with terrorist organisations to wreak large-scale havoc in the region.

Governor Bello stated this weekend at the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida Specialist Hospital, when he visited some soldiers injured recently following attacks by bandits in Shiroro within the Kagara Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.

According to him, “We have every reason to believe we are not dealing with just bandits and with the latest operations and the way they coordinate their attacks, it confirms that they must have some kind of training.

“So we want to believe we are dealing with some terrorist elements who have decided to have some kind of alliance with bandits for whatever reasons.”

Bello who also is the chairman of North Central States Governor’s Forum, NCSGF, said the magnitude of recent attacks carried out by bandits calls for a review of the security architecture.

While noting that the injured soldiers were recuperating, the governor disclosed that two soldiers died in the Shiroro attack.

Governor Bello passed a vote of confidence in the Nigerian Military, stating that the security operatives were capable of curtailing the situation, calling for more support from residents and urged individuals with useful and timely information to come forward.

Bello’s remarks came a day after gunmen kidnapped the Permanent Secretary at the Niger State Ministry of Transportation, Dr Ibrahim Musa.

Musa was said to have been abducted from his house along with his son on Friday night in Zungeru, a town in Wushishi Local Government Area, LGA, of the state.

The Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, Mary Barje, confirmed the abduction of the government official in a statement on Saturday.