Kamilu Lawal,Katsina
______ The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari has asked the Nigerian Army to intensify efforts in the ongoing fight against Banditry, a security threat currently ravaging the Northwestern part of the country.
The governor who made the appeal on Monday during his assessment visit to the newly established ‘Special Army Super Camp 4’ located in Faskari.
The governor expressed displeasure over the increased rate of banditry, said the state government has formed a committee with a view to recreating the village security council across 361 wards of 34 LGAs of the state.
Read also :Banditry: Six Women Kidnapped in Katsina
The Village Security Council is aimed at sustaining the ongoing operations of the military as well as a cascade down to remote and smaller areas in order to detect those to be held responsible for any wrongdoing.
The governor while assessing the level of progress made so far with the commencement of the ongoing ‘Exercise Sahel Sanity’ believed that considerable progress has been made in dealing, eliminating, and neutralizing the bandits.
But discovered that a lot needs to be done in order to make sure that the bandits are completely flushed out.
“It’s not about addressing the problem in Katsina alone. If you address the problem of Katsina without addressing that of Zamfara, Sokoto, and Kaduna including the neighboring Niger states, so you have not done anything. This Sahel Operation has to be complete in order for it to be durable and sustainable”.
“That is why we have come in to make sure that we support sustainability and peace by putting measures on the ground that will check the spread of banditry because failure to do that, we don’t know what will be next.
“If you could remember in 2015, we were talking about cattle rustling somewhere along the line it was kidnapping then came banditry followed by rape, 20 years ago it was armed robbery so the criminality also keeps on changing with time, and you know our area here we share borders with the Niger Republic. Over 1400 kilometers, we share borders with the Benin Republic. So ours is also internally and controlling what comes into the country.
“I believe the operation as we were shown is going all over these states including Niger state. So I think if it continues will be able to cripple and neutralize the bandits to a certain level that will no longer pose a threat to the country”. Masari added.
On June 5, 2020, about 50 people were killed in an attack by bandits in Faskari Local Government Area of the state, a month later over 40 people were killed in Batsari Local Government Area, the governor said that the fight against insurgency is not yet over in the state.
Governor Masari said “Today we thank Almighty Allah and the efforts of the Nigerian Army and that of Airforce for restoring some level of normalcy in the lives of our people. However, the fight against Bandits and Banditry is not yet over we believe that more still needs to be done”. He observed.
