Niger Abductions: IG Deploys AIG, Rescue Efforts Begin

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the deployment of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 7, Mr Victor Olaiya, to Niger State, to coordinate the rescue effort of abducted residents of the state.

The victims were abducted on Friday at a mosque in Dekkara district area of New Bussa Local Government Area and other communities, including Massaka, Sabongida and Gidamaza.

The Commissioner for Homeland Security, Maurice Magaji, made this known during a media briefing on Thursday, following the arrival of the AIG to the state.

He said that the government was ready to support security agencies in their operations, stressing that security personnel must first secure and clear affected areas before humanitarian assistance would be provided.

“I want to believe that there is no government that will see that its own people are being killed and facing challenges and be happy.

“We are running a democracy; we will face elections and of course, we are not aliens, we are all part of this community. Some of us grew up here, our families are here in various communities.

“I want us to look at it from that point of view, not politics; it’s not politics,” Magaji said.

The Niger State Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, who represented the Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi Elleman, said the police would not give an accurate figure of the number of persons abducted, noting that any figure could be premature.

“To corroborate what the commissioner has said, the state government has been very supportive in terms of providing logistics and supporting security agencies’ operations.

“We may not be able to spell out all the equipment the government has provided to support security operations as this may be counterproductive.

“As I have just said, the AIG Zone 7 is in town to coordinate both command operational assets, police operational assets and the state assets to ensure that the rescue operation is intensified and these victims are rescued in a very short period of time.

“If the police are not responsive enough, the IG would not have sent the AIG Zone 7 to be here with other assets from the national headquarters, the Counter Terrorists Unit, the EOD unit and the Police Airwing Unit to conduct air surveillance to geolocate these victims,” he said.

The commissioner of police assured that the rescue operation had commenced.