• Two parents of abducted Catholic school pupils die
• Ganduje tasks Yusuf on banditry in Kano

The Niger State House of Assembly has threatened to shut down legislative activities if the current security challenges are not swiftly tackled.

Lamenting that the state is under siege from bandits and other terrorist gangs, the lawmakers also called for the rescue of the kidnapped students of St. Mary’s Catholic Missionary School in Papiri, Agwara Local Council, stressing that the security situation had become critically alarming.

The resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by the member representing Agwara constituency, Mohammed Nura Agwara, which described the students’ abduction as tragic and worrisome.

The lawmakers had unanimously condemned the incident which occurred on November 2025, saying the situation is escalating beyond control. The Speaker, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, who presided over the session, warned that the House would not hesitate to halt legislative business entirely until concrete steps are taken to improve the security situation in the state.

He said: “Let us not pretend about the current situation. The state is now in the eyes of the world due to security challenges, and investors are beginning to pull out, while contractors handling various road projects have deserted their sites.”

Sarkindaji lamented that over 50 communities, including his own political ward, had been displaced from their ancestral homes and abandoned their farms within Mariga constituency.

While urging deployment of troops to flashpoints, the Speaker criticised the lack of action despite numerous appeals by Governor Umaru Mohammed Bago for improved security presence.

RELATEDLY, two parents of the abducted pupils have died. Confirming their passing yesterday in a statement in Minna, the media aide to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman in Niger State, Daniel Atori, added that the Catholic Bishop of Kontagora Diocese, Most Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, who doubles as proprietor of the school, explained that one of the parents, Mr Anthony Musa, died of heart attack, while another female parent passed on under unknown circumstances.

Recall that 315 persons, including 303 students and 12 teachers, were seized from the Catholic school during the invasion. Consequently, the governor ordered the closure of all public and private primary and secondary schools across the state following a security meeting with heads of security agencies on Saturday, November 22, at the Government House, Minna.

EQUALLY, the immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has charged the Kano government to contain the lingering banditry in the state before it gets out of hand.

He expressed sadness over the loss of lives and abduction of women and children in the recent bandit attacks in Shanono and Tsanyawa local councils, urging Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to swiftly end the menace.

In a statement yesterday signed by his former Chief of Staff, Muhammad Garba, the ex-governor described the attacks as “tragic, painful, and deeply distressing.”

He noted that the violent raids represent not only a breach of security but also a direct assault on communal peace and social stability. Ganduje extended his condolences to the bereaved families and residents of the affected communities, stressing that the emotional and psychological trauma caused by the incidents demands urgent support, coordinated response, and resolute action from all stakeholders.

He urged the state government to adopt proactive, intelligence-driven, and community-based security strategies, warning that the current situation appears to be “assuming a worrisome proportion that cannot be ignored or downplayed.”

Ganduje specifically urged the state government to borrow from the successful security models implemented under his administration (2015–2023), including strengthened local vigilance networks, multi-layered community policing, robust intelligence sharing, enhanced coordination with security agencies, and development-focused crime-prevention frameworks.

He stated that the strategies significantly contributed to containing rural banditry, deterring urban criminality, and maintaining relative stability across the state during his tenure as governor.