Uncategorized

Masari to IG: You can’t police Katsina, I’ll employ vigilantes

The Katsina Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, has said the Nigeria Police cannot adequately police the state with a population of about eight million with its level of manpower and equipment.

Masari said this when he received the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Usman Baba, at the Government House on Thursday.

He said: “Katsina State has a population of about eight million people.

“And how many policemen do we have in Katsina State?

“From my assessment of policemen in the local government areas, I don’t think we have up to 3,000 policemen in the entire state.

“Let us assume that they are up to 3,000, what it means is that we have a policeman to every 200,000 people.

“How effective can that policeman be?

“Then, we come to arms and ammunition.

“What do the police have?

“And when it comes to modern equipment for combating criminality, how much of it do the police have?

“And the same thing goes for all other security agencies.

“They are in South South battling militants.

“They are in the South East battling IPOB (Indigenous People of Biafra).

“They are in North East battling Boko Haram and ISWAP and insurgents.

“And they are in the North West battling bandits.

“Here, the bandits have infiltrated the communities recruiting young men with as low as N5,000 along with drugs and other intoxicants.

“We must stop the culture of not reporting criminals because of tribal or family affiliations.”

Masari then went on to tell Baba he will recruit more vigilantes to strengthen security architecture in the state.

He said the recruitment will cover the 34 local government areas of the state.

The governor also said the vigilantes would be posted to strategic places to help the police and other security agencies with relevant information on security.

He added: “If they detect any crime or criminalities, they will alert the security in arresting the situation.

“These initiative will assist in protecting communities from bandits.”

Baba told Masari that he came in at a difficult time as the IG, adding that they …

Crime / News

Masari to COAS: 10 Katsina LGAs under severe attack daily

Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina State says 10 out of the 34 Local Government Areas in the state are under severe attack daily by the bandits.

The governor disclosed this when he received the new Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, on a courtesy visit on Thursday.

He told the COAS that 10 local government areas have been under repeated attacks from bandits who kill, rape, injure the people, burn houses and rustle cattle.

According to Masari, the Katsina State Government is totally unhappy with the current security situation in the state and therefore must be brought to an end. He restated that the issue of security in the country is a collective responsibility not only for the security agencies.

He said: “Here in Katsina, we have created three tiers of security success, from the community to the local, up to the state level, aimed at ensuring peace in our communities.

“We want peace restored as soon as possible and allow the military to go back to the barracks for the police to take over.”

The governor further assured the COAS of the state government commitments in offering all the necessary support to enable the military discharge its duties effectively.

Earlier, the COAS told the governor that he was on operational visit to the state to interact with the troops in order to know their challenges.

According to him, the visit was also to seek for the continued support of the state government and commended the governor for his logistic and equipment support.

Yahaya assured the governor that the military would continue to work with other security agencies in the state to ensure relative peace.

He further called on the public to support the army in the discharge of their duties, especially by providing them with necessary information on criminals.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the COAS had earlier paid a similar visit to the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmuminu Kabir-Usman, who also expressed serious concern over the issue of insecurity in the state.

The …