End Banditry or Face Food Shortage, Katsina Protesters Tell FG

Troubled by the worsening insecurity in Katsina State, residents of Batsari Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest in the area, urging the federal government to intervene and stop the killings and kidnappings in the state or "face food shortage."

It was gathered that Batsari is one of the nine local government areas of the state currently facing attacks by bandits.

The aggrieved residents, mostly women and youths, who held the protest in Batsari town, decried the insecurity in the state which they said had resulted in apprehension, displacements in communities, property and loss of lives.

They regretted that despite “well-intended steps so far taken by the federal and state governments, the security challenges bedeviling the state remains unabated.”

According to one of the protesters, Yado Musa, their action was to call the attention of the government to what she described as gruesome killings and abduction of her fellow women in some parts of the state.

She said: "These evil acts are getting bolder by the day with no action taken by the authorities to arrest the situation and stop the act. Women suffer more because the bandits kill women, rape and kidnapped many.

"We have the challenge of security situation all over the state, but that of Batsari is clearly the worse. We are tired of burying our people and that is why we are calling on the government at all levels to intervene in this situation."

Another protester, Usman Muhammad, said the federal government should take decisive action against the kidnappers and bandits operating in the state to enable farmers cultivate their farmlands, adding that "this situation, if remain unchecked, will cause food shortage in the state."

He reaffirmed that there was need for total overhaul of the security apparatus of the state to control the situation before the killing and kidnapping get out of hand.

"The bandits killed many people in Iwala, Kasai, Baure, and yesterday they killed more than 10 persons in Baure village alone. Farming activities in Batsari will not hold again this year," he added.

Muhammad further alleged that the state government was not doing anything to curtail the scenario "even the security agencies are not doing enough to arrest the security," hence the protest.

He explained that the killings and kidnappings had affected farming activities in the state, adding that he was unable to go to his farms for some time because of fear of being killed or kidnapped.

Addressing journalists shortly after the protest, the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the council, Mannir Mu'azu Runka, decried the spate of insecurity in the local government area, alleging that security operatives in the area were doing "nothing" to arrest the menace.

"There is high insecurity in Batsari; we have 500 soldiers in the area but they are not doing anything. If you call them, they would tell you they are coming but they will not come until after the incident," he alleged.