Friday, August 1, 2025 - The Katsina State Government has lamented continued security challenges bedeviling some parts of the state, saying communities and informants are responsible for 80 per cent of the situation in the state.
The State Commissioner for Internal Security, Nasir Muazu
made this known while briefing newsmen shortly after a joint security meeting
at Government House, Katsina on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
According to him, investigations have revealed that some
dishonest individuals in communities are providing services to hoodlums for
economic gain.
“They sell items such as fuel to the hoodlums for N5,000 per
litre while a bottle of soft drink goes for about N3,000,” he said.
Mu’azu stated that, with sufficient manpower in the security
forces, insecurity would have been a thing of the past.
However, he attributed the prevalence of banditry and
kidnapping in the state to the activities of bandits’ informants, who
constitute about 80 percent of the problem.
“Why I said this, these bandits do not know where to buy all
these things from, but some members of the communities who own shops sell their
products to them at exorbitant prices, making. It is difficult to get their
cooperation in a bid to address the security challenge,” he explained.
“In one of the communities affected by insecurity, a man was
found to be selling a bottle of soft drink for N3,000, and another sold fuel
for N5,000 per litre to bandits.
“Drugs that are usually sold for little amounts of money in
pharmacies and other shops are sold in the millions of Naira by community
members to the bandits."
He also lamented that some members of the communities also
connive with bandits to abduct residents.
“In one of the cases we had, we found a man who connived
with bandits to abduct his biological father, who was diabetic, for ransom.
When the bandits took him to their hideout in the forest, they had already
procured diabetic medication for his daily consumption.
"The total sum of N30 million was paid as ransom for
the man, and N8 million was given to the son of the kidnapped man for
compromising by allowing his father to be abducted.
"The informants are known to alert bandits whenever
Nigeria Air Force jets leave the airport for an air strikes bandits’ hideouts,
leading to unsuccessful missions,” Nasir said.
The commissioner, however, noted that the government has recorded significant success in the fight against insecurity in some local government areas through kinetic measures.
“However, non-kinetic measures are also important to
ensure a lasting end to the insecurity,” he added.
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