In Sokoto: LG Chairman appeals to Gov. Tambuwal to reconstruct 5-km road

He said security agencies were finding it difficult to access the affected villages whenever they received distress calls about armed robbery and cattle rustling.

The Acting Chairman of Isa Local Government of Sokoto State, Alhaji Nasiru Muhtassibi, has appealed to the State Government to reconstruct dilapidated portion of the 5-km Isa-Modachi-Bafarawa road in the area.

Muhtassibi made the appeal when he addressed newsmen in Sokoto on Sunday.

He stressed that access to the affected communities was always very difficult due to the bad state of the road.

"Nearly one third of the road has been washed away by flood since 2012, and the problem had led to the cutting off of several communities in the area.

"When it is raining, access to such communities became impossible, as the people could only cross the river by commercial boats, at about N250 per person.

"The situation is also inhibiting the on going efforts to effectively combat the menace of cross-border armed robbery and cattle rustling.

"The local government shares a border with the neigbhouring Niger Republic, criminals from the neighbouring Zamfara state also pose similar menace to us’’, he emphasised.

He said security agencies were finding it difficult to access the affected villages whenever they received distress calls about armed robbery and cattle rustling.

The acting chairman, who is also the Director of Personnel Management of the local government, said some of the affected villages to include: Manawa, Dangwandi, Garin-Fadama, Tsaika, Zango, Gebe, Satiru and Malammawa.

"The people of these villages had of recent even lost lives, livestock and property to the hoodlums.

"The effort of the state government and security agencies to combat the menace of these undesirable elements is highly commendable, although more needs to be done.

"In fact, the commendable joint operations of the officers and men of the Nigeria Police and the Military deployed to the villages had led to the arrest of some suspects, as well as the recovery some rustled livestock.

"The urgent reconstruction of the damaged portion of the said road would greatly boost the efforts to combat the menace of armed robbery and cattle rustling in the areas.’’

Muhtassibi called on the people of the area to regard the security of lives and property as a collective responsibility by promptly reporting all suspected persons to the nearest security agency for action.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of the state police command, Mr El-Mustapha Sani, has promised that the command would sustain its proactive measures to effectively combat the activities of all cross-border and inter-border bandits in the area.