Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari has said that most of the bandits terrorising the North-West part of the country are of Fulani extraction.
Masari, whose state is one of the hotbeds of bandit attacks in the country, said this when he appeared on Channels Television ‘Politics Today’ on Monday.
Masari said although the terrorists might have infiltrated the country due to political instability in some African countries, their identities were Fulani.
He said they were not aliens, stating that they practised the same religion, spoke the same language as the people they kidnapped and killed for money.
“They are the same people like me, who speak the same language like me, who profess the same religious beliefs like me. So, what we have here on ground with these bandits, they are not aliens; they are people who we know,” he said.
“They are people who have lived with us for hundreds of years. The infiltration we have from some West African countries and North African countries are also people of the Fulani extraction.”
Meanwhile, as part of measures to contain the security challenges in his state, the governor has announced the suspension of business outlets engaging in phone charging business in the banditry-prone areas of the state.
He disclosed this while inaugurating the committee charged with monitoring and enforcing the recently introduced executive order in the state.
Masari, while inaugurating the committee, which has the Commissioner of Police Sanusi Buba as chairman and the Secretary to the State Government Mustapha Inuwa, said the committee was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that its terms of reference and other items not mentioned were applied in a bid to restoring normalcy in the state.
He identified 19 local governments as the flashpoint areas where the committee was expected to beam its searchlight. The local governments included: Jibia, Batsari, Safana, Danmusa, Paskari, Sabuwa, Kurfi, Danja, Kaita, Bakori, Funtua, Kankara, Musawa, Matazu, Dutsima, Mai’adua, Malumfashi and Funtua.
Masari also said the state government would continue studying the predicament and bringing further measures, including a ban on open grazing, to help address the state’s security challenges.
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