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The Katsina State Governor, Dikko Radda, has revealed that 70 to 80 per cent of the perpetrators of insecurity in the state are not in the forests but rather embedded within local communities as informants.
Speaking on Thursday during a special prayer event to mark his second anniversary in office, Governor Radda emphasised the critical need for intentional and decisive measures from all citizens to expose these individuals, asserting that the fight against banditry cannot succeed without addressing this internal threat.
Radda said, “We’re not here to celebrate power but rather to thank Allah and remind ourselves that leadership is a trust, not a trophy.
“This job is not about prestige. The money we manage is not ours. It belongs to the people. We are just caretakers”.
Radda admitted that the perpetrators of insecurity are not only from the forest saying those in the forest constitute only a migre number compared to those (informants) in communities.
He said, “It is no longer just about the forests. We cannot pretend, the Insecurity problem is not in the forests anymore. A lot of it is right inside our communities. That is where your voices matter the most.
“I am still calling on religious leaders and everyone on the issue of insecurity bedevilling our State. We had a security meeting yesterday and in our analysis, we discovered that only 30 to 20 per cent of perpetrators of insecurity are found in the forest, while 70 to 80 per cent are found among us in our communities.
“Those in the forest are getting information from those in our communities and they are the ones who are buying drugs, fuel for the bandits to ride to perpetrate their heinous crime, providing them with medication, taking ransom sum to them in the forest. I must say if we didn’t deal with these informants living amongst us, we would not succeed in this fight against insecurity. We should all be responsible in this course by exposing them.
“Another thing that we may not make right in the banditry fight is the lack of parental upbringings. Parents are not taking responsibility for the upbringing of their children anymore.”
He said the lack of parental upbringing has brought in another menace of insecurity, bedevilling the state.
He said, “Cases of one man with many children, while in the event he cannot take care of them, surely, they must become a nuisance.
“Religious leaders, you must rise up to create awareness on how we will curb the issues of lack of parents taking responsibility in the upbringing of their children, to let them also follow the law of the land and especially in exposing informants.
“As for us in the government, we will leave no stone unturned if anyone is found aiding bandits in whatever form. “We have given so much attention to those in the forest, and now, we will shift our focus more on those (informants) in our communities, which we believe will curtail insecurity.”
Secretary to the state government, Abdullahi Faskari, earlier said about 75 per cent of the administration’s goals have already been achieved, saying, “This government works with purpose and discipline.”
Also speaking, the Chief of Staff to the governor, Abdulkadir Nasir, said over 140 experts helped shape the governor’s development plan noting that the next phase of the administration will focus more on helping people, not just building projects.
“We have built the foundation. Now it is time for a continuation to empower people to stand on it,” he said.
