Governor hints at arming residents of terrorised communities to confront bandits, kidnappers

Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda has hinted at his administration’s plan to arm willing residents of terrorised communities in the state to confront invading bandits, kidnappers and other criminals.

“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,” Mr Radda said in Katsina, the state capital, on Friday, during an event organised for the 2025 Citizens’ Budget Participation Process and the launching of Community Development Programme.

Katsina is one of the most terrorised states in the North-west, the region that has emerged as a hotbed of some of the most devastating violent crimes in Nigeria. Four of the region’s seven states, including Katsina, are among the top five states with the highest number of kidnap incidents between July 2023 and June 2024.

Mr Radda said it is unhelpful for communities to depend solely on security agencies due to the remoteness of their locations.

“I went to a village, Tsamiyar-jino, where it took me two hours inside a ‘Jeep’ before I reached the village from the main road.

“So, if bandits attack such areas, from the time you inform the security, it will take them over two hours before they can respond to the distress call.

“By then, whatever is going to happen will have happened – they will have killed people and kidnapped others.”

The idea of arming citizens to defend themselves has been on the table as a solution to the wanton killings and destructions in the region and other parts of the country.

In 2022, the Zamfara State government, another north-west state, asked the police to start issuing gun licences to those willing to defend themselves.

However, there are persistent questions about whether arming citizens or liberalising Nigeria’s gun laws can guarantee security.

Nigeria’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja opposed the call for arming of citizens in the wake of an attack claiming the lives of 195 persons in Plateau State in 2023.

“I do not support that. I think that is a call for anarchy,” Mr Lagbaja said on Channels TV in December 2023, insisting that the Nigerian Army can defend the country and that there is no need for self-defence.

In January, an ISS Today article published by PREMIUM TIMES argued thatargued that liberalising citizens’ access to arms could deepen the insecurity problem.

“Considering Nigeria’s multiple conflicts and the challenges of border porosity that enable arms trafficking, campaigns for arming individuals could further jeopardise security and push the country into anarchy,” the article read in part.

The article added that the only optionoption optionoption is for “Nigeria’s security apparatus toto deliver on what it was established to do—protect—protect citizens’ lives and property.”

Insufficient security agents

Governor Radda also lamented that there were not enough security agents to provide security to all the communities in the state, calling back back to mind the agitaton for state police.

“I have said it several times, that the security agents cannot do this work alone. We didn’t even have enough of them.

Many, including state governors, have called for the creation of state police to complement the federally controlled police.

However, those who fear the already powerful state governors would abuse state police by unduly deploying them to muzzle the opposition, and dissenting views have opposed it.

Police decentralisation requires far-reaching legal reforms but it has not gained sufficient traction at the National Assembly or the blessing of federal authorities to make it through the series of constitution amendments that have been made over the years.

As a stop gap, the six states of the Southwest region jointly established the Amotekun Security Network to combat kidnapping.

Some northern states have also established the community security watch corps.

But since the establishment of the Amotekun, championed by the late Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, in 2020, or their likes in other parts of the country, there is no evidence that kidnapping and other related crimes have reduced.

READ ALSO: Katsina government to create development watchdogs across state

Humiliating deaths continue

Mr Radda expressed worry over the incessant killings in the state, stressing the need for self-defence and that payment of ransom does not guarantee the safety of kidnap victims.

“I am surprised at the way we are dying in such a humiliating manner. We were told that anyone who died in defence of his family would enter paradise.

“You see five criminals attacking a community of 2,000 to 3,000 people, rape daughters, women and abducting others without any confrontation from the people of that community.

“If there are 100 youths in the community who confront them, they will not shoot for more than three times without being captured with bare hands.

“Paying ransom doesn’t even prevent a hostage from being killed by abductors; sometimes they collect the money and kill the victim,” he lamented.

Mr Radda lamented the collaboration the criminals get from within the communities. “There was a representative of the village head who collected N700,000 from bandits and allowed them to enter his area and killed about 30 people,” he said.

“There were women arrested, a teacher serving as their informant, in fact, almost all the segments of people involved in this act.”

Governor’s security programmes

The governor revealed that his administration hadhad created a Community Security Watch Corps and recruited youth from the front-line local governments.

“We trained them and attached them with the police and the army to work in synergy after providing them rifles, bulletproof vests, umbrellas, three sets of uniforms and shoes, among others,” he said.

Mr Radda added that the government provided them with 700 motorcycles, 65 Hilux cars, and 10 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), in addition to rehabilitating others that belonged to the police.

“We pay N3 million for fuelling and maintenance of those vehicles to front-line local governments, N1.5 million for vulnerable local governments, and N750,000 for the remaining LGAs.

“We also purchased surveillance gadgets that you cannot find anywhere in the country. Our own is 5G and not the normal 3G,” the governor said.

He, therefore, urged the people to intensify efforts to provide information to the security agents for their security and safety.

(NAN)