The Governor of Katsina, Dikko Umar Radda, has disclosed that most bandits’ attacks in villages were done through village and community heads in the state.

Governor Umar Radda said an undisclosed village head collected ₦700,000 bandits, in exchange for the bandits to invade his village and kill 30 residents.

Speaking at the 2025 Citizens’ Budget Participation Process and the launching of the state’s Community Development Programmes Governor Radda explained that paying ransom would not help to address bandits’ activities in the state.

The Katsina State Governor added that his administration has resolved to empower the residents to combat bandits themselves.

“We have come up with an initiative that for any community ready to defend itself, we will give them necessary support and training to engage criminals before the arrival of the security agents.

“I went to a village, Tsamiyar-jino, where it took me two hours inside a ‘Jeep’ before I reached the village from the main road.

“So, if bandits attack such areas, from the time you inform the security agents, it will take them over two hours before they can respond to the distress call. By then, whatever is going to happen will have happened – they will have killed people and kidnapped others.

“I have said it several times, that the security agents cannot do this work alone. We didn’t even have enough of them,” Governor Radda said.

He continued, “I am surprised at the way we are dying in such a humiliating manner. We were told that anyone who died in defence of his family would enter paradise.

“You see five criminals attacking a community of 2,000 to 3,000 people, rape daughters, women and abducting others without any confrontation from the people of that community.

“If there are 100 youths in the community who confront them, they will not shoot for more than three times without being captured with bare hands.

“Paying ransom doesn’t even prevent a hostage from being killed by abductors; sometimes they collect the money and kill the victim.

“There was a representative of the village head who collected ₦700,000 from bandits and allowed them to enter his area and killed about 30 people.

“There were women arrested – a teacher serving as their informant; in fact, almost all the segments of people involved in this act.“

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