Some residents of Kastina State on Saturday blocked the highway passing through Jibia community to Katsina, the state capital, and other parts of the state to protest against daily attacks, kidnappings and rape by bandits.
The people, who are from Yangayya district, rendered many travellers and motorists stranded.
SaharaReporters is reporting that the residents have vowed that they would not open the road nor return to their houses until government took action to protect them from incessant bandit attacks.
Friday evening, armed bandits attacked Yankara community under Faskari Local Government Area of Kastina State.
No fewer than 50 people have been reportedly killed by bandits in Kankara, Dutsinma, Musawa, Danmusa and Safana local government areas of Kastina State in the last one month.
NewsWireNGR recalls that, last month, gunmen killed 47 people in attacks on villages in the northwestern Nigerian state of Katsina in the early hours of Saturday, local police said.
“Armed bandits,” some of whom wielded AK-47 assault rifles, carried out the attacks, Katsina police said in a statement in April.
Hundreds of people have been killed in the last year by criminal gangs carrying out robberies and kidnappings in northwest Nigeria.
Such attacks have added to security challenges in Africa’s most populous country, which is already struggling to contain Islamist insurgencies in the northeast and communal violence over grazing rights in central states.
President Muhammadu Buhari, in a statement, had said he would not tolerate large scale killing of innocent people by criminal gangs but the killings are ongoing.
Last week, the state House of Assembly held a special session, where each member, especially those from most of the affected areas, took turns to berate the government and security agencies for not doing enough on the issue of insecurity in the state.
Speaking when Major-General Leo Irabor, Chief of Defence Training and Operations, Defence headquarters, paid him a visit last week, Governor Aminu Bello Masari said, “I am in a very confused situation. I have limitation of resources and authority. I believe that if the brigade and the division are empowered with materials and logistics, we will see the end of this. “It is said that a stitch in time saves nine. The situation in the North-West is becoming worrisome, I am disturbed. The unfortunate situation of this coronavirus pandemic is what is keeping the information, if not, the number of killings would have gotten everywhere. We live under daily threats.
“I will take the risk of saying that these people are worse than animals because they lack any form of education. They don’t behave as Muslims. They have refused to allow government correct what is wrong. “You can’t blame this government, or even the previous one. This forest has been abandoned for a very long time. For us to correct what is wrong, there has to be peace. Our dialogue with them is working in some places, but not in most places.
“We need a complete cleanup operation. Unless the complete structure of banditry is destroyed, you can never have peace. Their structures, headquarters and modus operandi are known. They act like gangs of worm. They converge and attack in numbers. I am a very angry person because people look up to the governor to protect their lives property, honour and dignity, but I am sorry to say we are failing in that; and it is unfortunate.’’
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