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From Agaju Madugba, Katsina
The festering insecurity situation in parts of Katsina State arising from murderous activities of terrorist bandits has further caused disquiet in the area following last Wednesday’s sudden resignation of a Katsina Emirate High Chief, Prof. Sani Abubakar Lugga, Waziri Katsina.
Lugga, the fifth Waziri in the emirate’s 116 years old dynasty, dumped the prestigious title which he had held for 22 years over a query he got from the palace reportedly frowning at Lugga’s recent comments on the state of insecurity in Katsina.
A Professor of Conflict Management, Lugga, spoke at a lecture on Peace and Conflict Resolution in Ilorin, Kwara State, where he lamented what he described as the deteriorating security situation in Katsina State, among other issues on security in Nigeria.
Lugga also reportedly told journalists after the lecture that many Katsina State village heads had relocated to relatively peaceful Katsina town following incessant attacks on their communities by suspected bandits.
“The palace received the news of the Waziri’s comments with shock,“ a competent palace source said on Friday, adding that, “given his position, the Waziri ought to have sought clearance from the palace before speaking on such a sensitive issue.”
But in his letter dated February 23, 2022, to the Emir, Alhaji Abdulmumini Kabir Usman, Lugga expressed his gratitude for the opportunity given him to serve the Emirate since October 26, 2002.
He explained that he did not attend the Ilorin lecture as the Waziri Katsina but as a private citizen with inalienable right to speak on any national and international issues within the confines of the law.
Moreover, according to Lugga in the letter, it was not fair to isolate him for query over the subject of insecurity in the country and in Katsina State in particular when a number of other prominent individuals freely express their opinions on the matter.
When contacted, the Katsina emirate spokesman, Ibrahim Bindawa, said that, “we don’t have any comments but they are still discussing and I heard that the Waziri’s letter has been delivered to the palace.”
Katsina has indeed its fair share of the debilitating insecurity situation in country with reports of attacks, killing of residents and kidnappings occurring virtually daily across various communities in the state.
Apparently frustrated by failure of various government’s initiative to curtail the situation, Governor Aminu Bello Masari last year directed citizens to acquire arms and defend themselves against the terrorists.
But the attacks have continued unabated with a number of traumatized residents fleeing their communities and last week, Secretary to the Katsina State Government, Dr. Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa, appealed to the Federal Government for deployment of additional troops to Katsina because, “several communities are under severe threat.”
As uninspiring as Masari’s arm yourselves directive may appear, the state has indeed had generous dose of hostility and violence pervading communities and some urban centres, preceding 2015 when the Governor mounted the saddle of leadership of the state.
Between 2015 and 2017, cattle rustlers called the shots in various communities across the state. But the government reversed the trend albeit temporarily with an amnesty programme for repentant cattle rustlers, along with a number of other measures designed to check some other forms of criminality in the state.
However, from late 2017, banditry and kidnapping for ransom took over the centre stage and since then, according to Masari, “I am very sad and I have started running out of words because life has become nightmarish for communities around the Rugu forest in the state, bloody attacks by bandits have become routine. Our people living in the villages bordering the forest are going through very difficult times.”
In August 2019, Masari embraced all odds, went deep into the various forest locations in parts of the state in a bid to woo the criminals into surrendering their arms and adopt dialogue but the initiate did not yield the desired results.
In fact, Masari told the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Farouk Yahaya, recently that, “the purpose of government is to protect lives and property and honour and dignity of citizens but when this purpose is under attack then the entire system is under attack.”
At least 17 out of the 34 Local Government Areas in Katsina are officially tagged front line locations due to the intensity of banditry attacks on Safana, Batsari, Jibia, Dan-Musa, Kurfi, Dutsima, Kankakara, Dandume, Faskari Sabuwa, Matazu and Malumfashi, among others.
They all share boundaries with the Rugu forest, reported to be virtually “inaccessible” and operational headquarters of the terrorists.
