AMINU Masari, Governor of Katsina State has said that the Service Chiefs should be blamed for the perpetuation of banditry in the state.
Masari stated this on Saturday while presenting a N10 million economic empowerment cheque to 1,000 women and N7 million scholarship support cheque to 701 students in the Rimi Local Government Area of the state.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari has done all it takes to ensure security in the region.
The Governor, who noted that bandits are now camouflaging and living with the people said he doesn’t understand why they have not done more to help the region since they are all Northerners.
“To identify bandits in rural communities is not a difficult task, because you know his business, his farmland capacity, his livestock and even family,” Masari said.
“And if one day he buys a new motorcycle amounting to over N200,000 then you must know that he is selling people’s lives.”
Katsina has in recent times been the centre of activities for bandits who have been killing villagers and rustling their livestock as well.
In June, a group of aggrieved youths in the state staged a protest over incessant killings of villagers by bandits.
The peaceful protest, convened by Coalition of Northern Group (CNG) and Citizens Participation Against Corruption Initiative, was flagged off at Kofar Soro and concluded at the old Government House, Katsina.
The convener, Jamilu Charanci, said the protest was meant to express dissatisfaction over the government’s failure to deliver on its primary responsibility of protecting the lives and properties of its citizens.
But in a swift reaction, President Muhammadu Buhari issued a warning to the protesters saying that their protest could distract the military operations mounted to flush out bandits terrorising the state.
Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity in a statement reacting to protests said the president had approved a joint military and police operation specifically targeted at combing Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto states to rid the areas of bandits.
He assured that surveillance will be improved, with more night vision aircrafts already deployed under “Operation Accord’.
“President Buhari admonishes that taking to the streets for protest could distract the military operations, urging” Katsina indigenes not to give up on the military who over the years have a strong track record of quelling crises once given enough time,” the statement read in part.
'Niyi worked with The ICIR as an Investigative Reporter and Fact-checker from 2020 till September 2022. You can shoot him an email via niyioyedeji1@gmail.com. You can as well follow him on Twitter via @niyi_oyedeji.