Bandits kill Katsina village head, eight others

Bandits reportedly struck again early Thursday morning at Kuka Babangida village, Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State, killing no fewer than nine residents including the village head, Idris Haruna.

The chairman of the LG council, Bashir Sabiu, confirmed the incident, alongside the spokesman for the Katsina police command, ASP Abubakar Aliyu.

The PUNCH gathered that the bandits attacked the village a few minutes before midnight and operated till around 1:30 am on Thursday.

Villagers said the bandits took time to go from house to house in search of valuables, including money.

Sources further disclosed that the bandits killed the village head, his four children, and four others in the process.

It could not be established whether they abducted people or went away with valuables.

The state Commissioner for Internal Security, Nasiru Muazu who spoke on the incident through his spokesman, Hassan Dan-Alli, said, “The state is committed to the protection of lives and property of people of the state. We shall not relent in our efforts to ensure that our people are safe wherever they are.”

Efforts were being made to bury the victims on Thursday, when this report was filed.

The PUNCH reports that the bandits killed no fewer than six traders last Friday morning who were on their way to a local market at Yantumaki in the Danmusa Local Government Area of the state.

The traders, who were travelling from Maidabino, were attacked just a few kilometres from the market.

Former Secretary to the Katsina State Government, Alhaji Inuwa Mustapha, has, however, urged governors of North-Western States to jointly tackle banditry instead of doing it individually as currently being done.

He insists that no state can single-handedly tackle the problem.

Inuwa, who is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, in an interview with The PUNCH, also advised the governors to put pressure on the federal government to assist them in tackling banditry and other crimes in the region.

The former SSG insists that tackling banditry in the North-West Region requires “well-coordinated, sustainable and simultaneous operations against bandits.”

He said, “I will keep on saying this. Bandits may be large in numbers but they are not large enough to be a threat to national security if they are well tackled.

“In the first instance, there is no state in Nigeria that can single-handedly tackle insecurity. It requires the collaborative efforts and support of others including that of the Federal Government. If you could recollect, from January 2017 to 2019 Katsina put in several strategies to tackle insecurity, especially banditry.

“We put up amnesty, met the bandits’ leaders, banned sales of fuel in jerry cans, closed cattle markets, shut down communication in some councils. But you know, these bandits are mobile, highly mobile. When you put up measures that are unfavourable to them in your state, they move to other states where they will be operating from.

“Let the Governors come together; let them put pressure on the Federal Government. With the active support of the President, they should carry out a well-coordinated simultaneous operation using both air and ground troops in the region, and with the assistance of local guides and local hunters who also know the terrains, these bandits would be tackled.

“We are concerned and every well-meaning Nigerian should be concerned too. Some schools cannot be accessed because of the activities of the bandits; so also some markets. Every day, we pray for the end of the problem.”