Banditry: Acquire arms, defend yourselves – Masari tells Katsina citizens

Apparently frustrated by the incessant activities of bandits in his state, Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina has given citizens in the areas prone to bandit attacks to acquire weapons and defend themselves.

In a statement issued by the governor’s Director General (Media), Abdu Labaran Malumfashi, Masari said it was morally wrong for people to “meekly” subject themselves to the bandits without fighting back.

The governor reportedly spoke in Jibia town Tuesday, when he visited to condole with the people over the death of 10 persons, crushed on Monday by an operative of the Nigerian Customs Service who drove an official vehicle recklessly.

“It is the people’s meek submission that emboldens the bandits to continue with their heinous activities with murderous frequency, adding that people must divorce their mind from the mistaken notion that security is government’s sole responsibility,” the statement read in part.

Masari assured the people that government was weighing all the necessary legal steps to seek redress for the families of the deceased, as well as those who sustained various degrees of injuries.

READ: Katsina State under severe bandit attacks daily – Gov Masari

He added that lawyers had already been consulted to advise on the way forward to ensure speedy legal resolution of the matter.

The governor, however, cautioned the families of the victims not to succumb to any covert enticement from the Nigerian Customs Service, saying that doing so will compromise and jeopardise government’s efforts to secure justice for the bereaved and injured.

“What Customs operatives are doing is wrong, and therefore unacceptable.

“Do not succumb to any covert enticement from the customs service, no matter what they offer or promise to do for you.

“Whatever they want to do for you, let it be in the open, not in secret.

“If you accept any secret offer, then you will be truncating government’s efforts to seek justice for you, but if you resist any untoward move, the organization will then have to rethink its attitude towards its host communities,” Masari said.