By Sardauna Dan-Awe, Katsina
Katsina Elders Forum has urged the state government and other relevant authorities to disarm repentant bandits for peace and stability to thrive in communities ravaged by insecurity in Katsina State.
Secretary of the forum, Aliyu Sani Muhammad, who made the call in a chat with some journalists, said the authorities concerned should retrieve firearms from the repentant bandits.
Communities in frontline local government areas of the state have signed a peace deal with bandits as part of ongoing non-kinetic efforts to restore peace in the state.
But Muhammad, during the media chat, said the remorseful bandits have not relinquished their sophisticated firearms to relevant authorities during their separate peace deals with communities across the state.
Describing the peace agreement between the communities and the bandits as temporary, the forum secretary said sustainable peace could only be achieved in the state through disarmament.
He said: “After the peace pact, ask the bandits to relinquish their weapons, seize the weapons and let them go empty-handed at least there will be peace.
“But when you allow bandits to go back with their guns; what are you doing? You are asking them to go where the peace pact has not been signed.
“Even if all the local governments in Katsina state will sign the peace pact and the bandits negotiate and collect a lot of money, they will go back to the bush temporarily. The moment that money is exhausted, they will come back and strike.”
Muhammad added that: “There are local governments that sign the peace pact but they are not free from banditry. Unless the federal government comes to the rescue of Katsina State, we will continue to have this problem.”
He urged the Governor Dikko Umaru Radda-led state government to seek approval from relevant authorities to purchase sophisticated firearms for members of the state-owned security outfit, Community Watch Corps, to enable them to effectively fight the bandits.
He, however, called on President Bola Tinubu to give the nation’s security chiefs matching order and timeline to end banditry in Katsina and other North-western states.
He stated that Governor Radda-led government has adopted and implemented numerous security measures to curb the scourge, but the bandits have overpowered his government.
“The state government took some brilliant steps initially but unfortunately the bandits have overpowered them; they can not do anything”, Muhammad added.
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