From Billy Graham Abel Yola
Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umar Radda, has declared that no amount of threats and attacks on his people can stop his resolve of ending the tyranny of banditry in his state.
Radda said he has lost a brother from the activities of bandits, yet he would not allow any threat to stop him from fighting banditry to a halt in the state.
Radda made the remarks at the American University of Nigeria (AUN) 15th Commencement ceremony in Yola, while attending his daughter’s graduation ceremony alongside other students of the university.
Radda said he is not afraid of insurgency, or banditry or anyone else behind their activities, adding that they are not new to him, but his government had already set up machinery and structures to wipe out banditry from the state.
“l am not afraid of bandits, l am not afraid of anyone, they were in my family compound last two or three years ago, where they attacked and killed my brother from the same mother and father. So their modus operandi are not new to me. We are well prepared and ready to contend with their new crazy approach of attacking vulnerable villages with difficult terrain, to access our people living near the forest. They go there and start killing people randomly. We have also developed new strategies to contain their onslaughts,” he said.
The governor said after wide consultations, his government has launched a security outfit named Katsina Community Watch (KCW), made of locals to complement the conventional security agencies in the country. He said the Katsina Community Watch is a formal organisation because there was a law by the Katsina State House of Assembly to allow his administration the opportunity to launch the security outfit.
“We have since recognised the fact that you can not fight this insurgency without using the locals, so we selected some people from the locals to train and equip, to compliment the efforts of the conventional security agencies we have in the country, and we are recording a lot of successes. Because of these milestones, we have reduced the banditry by about 60 to 70%,” he confirmed.
When asked why he did not send his daughter abroad like other governors in the country, the governor said as a citizen of this country, he needs to patronise his own, so as to encourage education in Nigeria.
Radda said: “The AUN has almost every facility for learning and teaching in a world class standard. I see no reason why I will send my ward abroad while the things needed are here.”