* CSOs dispute claim
Francis Sardauna in Katsina
The Katsina State Deputy Governor, Hon. Faruk Lawal, has revealed that the state government has restored peace in 13 out of the 22 local government areas battling with security challenges being orchestrated by bandits in the state.
Lawal, while addressing journalists on the security situation of the state, said the restoration of peace in the 13 councils was as a result of fierce operations of the Community Watch Corps officers in collaboration with conventional security agencies.
He highlighted Dutsin-Ma, Batagarawa, Charanchi, Ingawa, Bindawa, Kusada, Funtua, Danja, Bakori, Malumfashi, Kafur, Musawa and Matazu as the local governments where peace has been restored.
But the state Chairman of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Mr. AbdulRahman Abdullahi, has kicked against the government’s position, adding that bandits are still launching attacks in some of the 13 local governments.
Lawal said: “I am happy to report that out of the 22 local governments that were under the frontline and some that were affected by this issue of insecurity for now, we are able to rescue 13 out of the 22 LGAs. Peace has been restored in these places.”
He attributed the resurgence of banditry in the eight frontline local governments of Jibia, Batsari, Safana, Danmusa, Kankara, Faskari, Dandume and Sabuwa, to an intense pressure mounted on the bandits by the security operatives in the state.
Lawal said the ongoing war against the hoodlums forced them to regroup and mobilise their members to launch attacks on the eight frontline local governments to “portray a picture that they are still relevant”.
“But we want to inform the good citizens of Katsina State that we are battle ready. We will continue to pursue them in all their hideouts and we are winning the war,” the deputy governor added.
He said the state government had recruited 1,466 youths into the Community Watch Corps and deployed them in the eight frontline local governments to support the conventional security agencies in their operations.
The deputy governor said the state government also procured 10 Armoured Personnel Carriers, 61 new Hilux vehicles and 700 motorcycles and distributed them across the local government areas to security agencies’ operations.
He said: “These youth men and women that we employed have been placed on the payroll of N30,000 per month as against what was the practice; communities were recruiting vigilante groups and some of them were collecting between N5,000 to N10,000 monthly as their stipends.”
Reacting to the government’s position, the state Chairman of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Mr. AbdulRahman Abdullahi, said the nefarious activities of the bandits have not been completely eradicated in the 13 local governments.
He said although there is remarkable security improvement in the 13 vulnerable local governments, that “does not mean the activities of bandits have been subdued completely because even last week, four people were kidnapped in Dutsin-Ma”.
While noting that: “There was also an attack at Lambo in Kurfi LGA where about eight people were involved,” the CSOs chairman called on the state government to sustain its present efforts and strengthen synergy in operation between local, state and federal security outfits for better results.
