*Vows to roll out more security measures
Francis Sardauna in Katsina
Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda, yesterday, revealed that rampaging bandits terrorising some parts of the state were threatening to attack him.
The governor, who disclosed this during an expanded emergency security council meeting at the Government House, Katsina, said the bandits’ threat was based on security reports.
The security meeting which had in attendance the heads of security agencies, traditional and religious leaders, top government officials and members of the business community, was to find remedies to the security and economic challenges in the state.
Radda, who spoke in Hausa, said: “Based on security reports that we are receiving, I am among those that the bandits are thinking of attacking, but that doesn’t muddle me because God is with us, and He will protect us.”
He lamented that the bandits have now adopted the use of reinforcement from neighbouring states to launch onslaughts and kidnap innocent citizens, regardless of their socio-economic status in communities across the state.
The governor explained that the bandits were abducting the rural dwellers who “hardly feed themselves” because his government and security agencies had deposed their informants from communities.
Radda said: “They (bandits) are now kidnapping the villagers to create the impression that the successes recorded by my government in the ongoing fight against their nefarious activities was a delusion.”
He, however, said the threats by the hoodlums would not deter his administration from adopting more revolving security strategies to tackle banditry and other security challenges in the state.
He therefore urged traditional and religious leaders to encourage their subjects in their respective communities to adopt self-defence mechanisms in order to defend themselves against the criminal elements.
On hike in prices of food commodities, Radda said the state government will inaugurate a taskforce to implement stringent government’s measures to end hoarding and bulk purpose of foodstuffs in the state.
He said that the government was aware of the daily rise in prices of essential food commodities, which is subjecting Nigerians to untold hardship.
Radda attributed the daily hike in prices of foodstuffs to mass export of commodities from Nigeria to Niger Republic, Mali and other neighbouring countries, warning that such actions would be tackled by the government.
