Bandits operating in over 50 communities in Niger State, may take over the control of Shiroro Power station, located in Shiroro Local Government Area of the North Central State, lawmakers have warned.

The Minority Caucus of the National Assembly, led by the Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja, when they visited Senator Clifford Ordia representing Edo Central Senatorial District.

Ordia was attacked twice by suspected bandits last week while returning to Abuja from Edo State. The two attacks reportedly happend in Kogi State and Abaji area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The Minority Caucus, while lamenting the security situation in the country, revealed that bandits were at the verge of taking control of Shiroro Power station and may shutdown or blow up the facility.

The Shiroro Power station is a hydroelectric power plant on the Kaduna River in Niger State. It has a power generating capacity of 600 megawatts (800,000 hp) enough to power over 404,000 homes.

It contributes a significant megawatts to the national grid and supplies power to many states in North Central and North Western parts of the country. “The security situation is now very bad. Bandits may take over Shiroro Power Station. They may take over and blow up the place if the government doesn’t do the needful. That’s more trouble for us. It has never been this bad,” Abaribe said during the visit.

Only a fortnight ago, Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State, warned that Boko Haram had already infiltrated the state and had not only hoisted their flags in captured villages, including Kaure Village in the Shiroro Local Government of the state, but had also forcefully allocated displaced women to themselves as wives.

The Governor had warned that Sambisa was several kilometers from Abuja, but Kaure was just two kilometers from Abuja, insisting that nobody is safe anymore not even residents of the nation’s capital