Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina State has said that the overwhelming majority of bandits terrorising communities across the state are not strangers, but locals well-known to the people.
Speaking on Tuesday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Radda explained that “ninety-something percent” of the bandits are homegrown, adding that many of them are familiar faces within their communities.
“Most of the perpetrators of this banditry are from our own area. They are not aliens. Ninety-something percent of them, we know their fathers, their grandfathers, and they are living with us,” he said.
According to him, the challenge of insecurity continues to obstruct meaningful development in Katsina State. He noted that although governors are constitutionally regarded as chief security officers of their states, they lack operational control over security agencies such as the army and the police.
To counter this limitation, Radda disclosed that the state government established a local security outfit, made up of youths drawn from communities most affected by banditry. He said the idea was born out of the need for a grassroots approach to security and intelligence gathering.
“These boys know the terrain better, they know those people better,” the Governor said.
He stressed that local involvement is critical in tackling insecurity head-on, as the indigenes are more familiar with the terrain and can help fish out informants within the communities who aid and abet criminal activities.
“So this situation requires local involvement, and that was why we created this outfit, so that people at the local level can provide us with information. They can lead the fight to the enclaves of the bandits because they know the terrain better, and they can fish out informants living among us, giving information to the bandits and those that provide logistic support to the bandits,” he explained.
Radda maintained that unless this internal network of collaborators and informants is dismantled, the fight against banditry will remain unsuccessful.
“Without unbundling that, you would not be able to fight insecurity successfully,” he said.
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