Masari blames volunteers for bandits’ attacks, kidnapping in Katsina

By FRANCIS SARDAUNA

The Katsina State Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has blamed the spate of insecurity bedevilling the state on volunteers (Yan’sakai) and informants who support the bandits and kidnappers terrorizing communities in the state.

He lamented that volunteers and informants had made it very cumbersome for security agencies to tackle the wave of banditry and kidnapping confronting communities in the state.

Masari spoke on Saturday while condoling with the victims of banditry and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Faskari and Dandume Local Government Areas of the state.

The governor, flanked by his Deputy, Alhaji Mannir Yakubu; the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr. Mustapha Inuwa; other top government officials and security chiefs, visited Kadisau village, IDPs camps in Faskari Model Primary School and Dandume Primary School respectively.

THISDAY reliably gathered that there are 4,688 IDPs, mostly women and children currently camping in Faskari and Dandume Primary Schools.

He said: “We don’t accept or approve Yan’sakai because in most cases, they are the ones that trigger mass killings. Yan’sakai will travel 20 or 30kms from their place to another place and kill a Fulani or anybody they suspect to be bandit.

“When the Fulani people and bandits in the forest come out, they attack a nearest community that was not involved in the killing of the person alleged to have been killed by them.

“It has happened in Kadisau and many other places that we saw massive killings. We don’t approve the activities of Yan’sakai but the vigilantes working with the police is what we are working to make sure that they are properly trained to assist the police before the coming of community policing.”

Masari, during the sympathy visit, renewed his pledge to do everything humanly possible to tackle the wave of insecurity bedevilling the state to enable the displaced persons return to their ancestral homes.

He assured them that joint security operatives would go after the bandits and assiduously work to put an end to the indiscriminate killings and kidnapping of innocent citizens in the state.

He lamented the recent dastardly attacks orchestrated by bandits, which resulted in the losses of hundreds of lives and property worth millions of naira in front line local government areas of the state.

The governor described the incident as unfortunate and expressed the state government’s unequivocal determination to end the menace. (THISDAY)