We Must Cooperate, Share Security Information to End Banditry, Radda Tells N’west Govs

Francis Sardauna in Katsina 

The Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda, has urged his counterparts in the North-west region to cooperate and share security information in order to tackle banditry bedevilling the region.

He gave the admonition Tuesday during the graduation and passing-out parade of 1,466 Katsina Community Watch Corps held at the Muhammadu Dikko Stadium, Katsina.

The community watch corps were recruited and trained for two months by conventional security agencies on weapons handling, counter-terrorism and civil-military relations, among others.

Radda said the governors must also work as a unit with the Federal Government to ensure that a comprehensive approach is applied in tackling banditry and other security challenges ravaging the region.

He called on the Federal Government to support the Katsina Community Watch Corps initiative, adding that his administration had invested huge resources to ensure the sustainability of the ongoing war against insecurity.

He said the training and graduation of the security watch corps served as an emblem of his administration’s commitment to security, peace and community advancement.

While noting that 24 out of the 34 local government areas of the state were facing severe security challenges, Radda said the establishment of the security outfit had demonstrated his government’s proactive approach to taming the challenges.

He therefore charged the newly recruited officers to understand the value of empathy, community cohesion and cultural respect while discharging their duties of safeguarding lives and properties in communities across the state.

The governor said: “I would like to invite my brothers, the governors of the North-west and other governors in the country that are here today (Tuesday) to embrace this community building approach to tackle insecurity in our country. 

“We must cooperate by sharing information, ideas and resources to stem banditry and all forms of insecurity in our region and our country in general.

“We must also work as a unit of the Federal Government to ensure that a comprehensive approach is applied in tackling insecurity. And I call on the Federal Government to support this initiative.”

Dignitaries at the event included former President Muhammadu Buhari; Governors of Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf; Kebbi State, Dr. Nasiru Sani; Sokoto State, Ahmed Aliyu; Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni and Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal Dare.

Former and first civilian Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Sa’idu Barda and the former Military Governor of Borno State, Col. Abdulmumini Aminu; Emir of Katsina, Dr. Abdulmumini Kabir and Emir of Daura, Dr. Faruq Umar Faruq, were among the special dignitaries that graced the historic occasion.

But THISDAY investigation at Muhammadu Dikko Stadium, venue of the event, revealed that former Governors of the state, Aminu Bello Masari and Ibrahim Shehu Shema were conspicuously absent.

Masari’s absence at the event, THISDAY gathered, might not be unconnected with the ministerial appointment saga in the state.