A couple of days ago, media reports suggested that kidnapping for ransom has become a business and daily occurrence in the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari. The situation became so serious that the State Governor, Aminu Masari said during extraordinary security meeting that the state is under siege of criminals. While grieving over the deteriorating state of insecurity, Masari urged the relevant security agencies to rise to the occasion, and do their job of securing life and property. He lamented that the citizens were harassed by bandits and kidnappers who are on rampage in the state.
Furthermore, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives disclosed that due to the activities of these criminal elements, the people in the 34 local governments now sleep with both eyes open. “And because the state is, to all intents and purposes, in a dangerous situation, travellers are afraid of being stopped on the highway and abducted by kidnappers who demand ransom”, revealed the governor. He maintained that the situation was so dire that not even the Government Reservation Area, GRA, near the Government House is not safe as thieves had the effrontery to get in there to steal election equipment at INEC office.
Reports indicate that it is as if nobody is in charge in the state as activities of these bandits come in different shapes. With series of abductions around the state, the other day, there was a failed attempt to kidnap the former president of the Court of Appeal who holds the revered title of Galadiman Katsina and District Head of Malumfashi, Justice Mamman Nasir. Justice Nasir was said to be returning to his district, Malumfashi, when the car he was travelling in alongside his driver and aide fell into kidnappers trap. His aide, Aminu Sani, was taken. Before now, communities in the state that share border with Zamfara State have been compelled to live in dread of these merchants of death. Regrettably, the siege on Katsina by bandits is a sad reminder of the senseless killings by these faceless and fragmented bandits in neighbouring Zamfara State- a development that has forced hundreds of villagers to relocate to Katsina state where they assumed was a safe haven.
It is worrisome that the frail security situation in Katsina state underscores the shaky situation in the whole of North West. We recall with pain that many have been killed with many more kidnapped for ransom in the Birnin Gwari area of Kaduna state. From repeated killings and kidnapping in Zamfara State to the countless murder and abduction along the Birnin Gwari road, and the rising wave of insecurity in Katsina, the security situation of North West deserves a better calibration and mapping. Hem and of course to support the displaced and the grieving. It appears we have taken things for granted for far too long in the country. Security of lives and property is not what any government should joke with. It seems we joke with it. The joke has come to hunt us.
We recall that at the inception of the current administration, Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna states signed a security arrangement where the governors committed some resources to policing their areas. We are persuaded by the prevailing situation in the region to ask what has happened to that arrangement. It is our opinion, therefore that there is a pressing and urgent need to nip the Katsina situation in the bud so as not to escalate the deteriorating security situation in the country. Perhaps the time is ripe for the governors to work together towards unraveling the mystery behind this precarious security situation which, if left unchecked, will have far reaching negative implications for the nation’s territorial integrity considering the fact that these states share border with neighbouring countries.
The recent decision of the military to launch a combing exercise codenamed “operation python dance 3” across the nation appears desirable. But that is just one event, the scale of banditry that Katsina has suffered deserve something permanent. We urge Nigerians, especially Katsina residents to support the Python dance military exercise by all including residents since these bandits live among them. It is also our view that the best way to address a security situation as challenging as the one that currently stares the nation in the face is to adopt the use of both intelligence and technology.
Residents must be willing to provide intelligence to security agencies as quickly as possible. This means law enforcement must as a matter of policy ensure fidelity between the public and themselves. There is too much suspicion in the system for fear of the unknown.
The use of technology must be effective. More importantly, the carefree attitude that we exhibit wherein we allow non Nigerians to infiltrate our country and then dispense crime and run away into other countries must stop. We must come up with border infiltration solutions as quickly as possible.
