Banditry: Only five guns in police armoury in Katsina LGA with 200 villages – Governor

The Governor of Katsina State, Dikko Radda, says that despite the gravity of insecurity in his state, a police station in a local government area has only five functional guns.

Katsina has 34 LGAs, but Mr Radda did not mention the name of the particular one when he spoke during an interview with DW Hausa Service on Tuesday. His spokespersons did not respond to multiple phone calls on Wednesday morning as PREMIUM TIMES tried to get them to identify the LGA.

However, Mr Radda said it has 10 political wards and more than 200 villages under it.

He said the council area has 32 police officers and only nine guns, of which only five are serviceable.

“Currently in Katsina, there is a local government area with 32 policemen and nine guns, and the serviceable guns are five.

“The LGA has 10 political wards, with more than 200 villages. How can a police force with 32 personnel protect them?” the furious governor lamented.

The governor said his administration would provide guns approved by the law for self-defence to vulnerable communities if people are willing to protect their communities and families against the bandits.

“We have come up with an initiative that, for any community ready to defend itself, we will give them necessary support and training to engage criminals before the arrival of the security agents”, he stated.

He urged members of the vulnerable communities to be brave and be prepared to die like a man than to live or be killed like a coward.

He said the attackers are mostly few in number and malnourished and are from the neighbouring Kaduna and Zamfara, but can be dealt with if the local communities can strategise and confront them.

Reaction

Reacting to the governor’s comments, Bulama Bukarti, a lawyer, urged the President Bola Tinubu administration to investigate the trillions of naira budgeted in the defence ministry under former President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a post on his verified X handle, Mr Bukarti said the situation the governor painted should not be seen in an insecure state like Katsina.

“An entire local government in one of Nigeria’s most insecure regions, with only 32 policemen and five functional guns? And Katsina is not an exception.

“Large swathes of rural Nigeria have little to no law enforcement presence. Those few officers who are deployed are often poorly equipped, inadequately trained and lacking motivation. Is it any surprise that criminal gangs dominate these vast rural areas?

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“What exactly did the Buhari administration do with the trillions of naira allocated for security? The Tinubu administration should have initiated an investigation—but they haven’t. So far, there is little indication that Tinubu’s government is any better than Buhari’s.

“Nigeria will not overcome its deep-rooted insecurity until we confront and dismantle the rampant, obscene corruption in the defence and security procurement sectors,” Mr Bukarti said.