Majority Of Bandits Are Fulani – Katsina Governor, Masari

 Governor Aminu Masari of Katsina state has revealed that majority of bandits ravaging the state are Fulani herdsmen, with some of them infiltrating the country from neighbouring West African countries.

The governor of President Muhammadu Buhari’s state of origin, said the criminal elements who plunged the entire nation into unusual security crisis are mainly Fulani herdsmen.

Governor Masari made the claim on Monday while featuring on a Channels Television programme, ‘Politics Today’.

He revealed that the elements had same religion, language like himself, stressing that they had been living “with us for hundreds of years”.

He said, “Bandits are persons who speak same language like me. They profess the same religious beliefs like me.

“These bandits are not aliens, they are people we know. They are people that have been living with us for hundreds of years. The infiltration we have from some African countries and non-African countries, are people of the Fulani extraction.

“Majority of those involved in this banditry are Fulanis. Whether it is believable or not, that is the truth. These are people who live in the forest and their major occupation is rearing of cattle.”

Katsina is one of the several states in the North-West and North-Central regions particularly ravaged by bandits.

The bandits have continued to attack schools, abduct residents for ransom and carried out wanton killings in the state.

Bandits Recruit Youths With N5000, Supply Them Drugs – Governor Masari Cries Out

Masari Governor of Katsina State Governor, has lamented that bandits are now recruiting young men with as low as N5,000 along with drugs and other intoxicants.

Masari added that the Nigerian Police Force does not have adequate number of personnel to effectively police the state with a population of about eight million people.

Masari spoke on Thursday when the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, visited the Government House on a courtesy call to President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state.

The governor said, “Katsina State has a population of about eight million people and how many policemen do we have in Katsina State? From my assessment of policemen in the local government areas, I don’t think we have up to 3,000 policemen in the entire state.

“Let us assume that they are up to 3,000, what it means is that we have a policeman for every 200,000 people. How effective can that policeman be? Then we come to arms and ammunition, what do the police have?

“And when it comes to modern equipment for combating criminality, how much of it do the police have? And the same thing goes for all other security agencies. They are in South-South battling militants; they are in the South-East battling IPOB, they are in North-East battling Boko Haram and ISWAP and insurgents and they are in the North-West battling bandits.

“Here, the bandits have infiltrated the communities recruiting young men with as low as N5,000 along with drugs and other intoxicants. We must stop the culture of not reporting criminals because of tribal or family affiliations.”

Katsina, despite being Buhari’s home state, has witnessed sporadic attacks by bandits and kidnappers that have claimed the lives of many.

Over 1000 people have been reportedly killed by the gunmen in Jibia, Kankara, Dutsinma, Musawa, Danmusa and Safana Local Government Areas of the state in the last five months.

On December 11, 2020, some bandits kidnapped 344 students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara. They were released about a week later.

Also on December 19, 84 Islamiyya students of Hizburrahim Islamiyya in Mahuta village, Dandume Local Government Area of the state were abducted but rescued shortly after.

Recently, some members of the State House of Assembly lawmakers shed tears for the Buhari-led government at a plenary while discussing the deterioration of insecurity under the present regime.