“Informants, sabotage, undermining joint operations in Katsina’

Augustine Okezie, Katsina

The Secretary to the Government of Katsina State, Alhaji Mustapha Mohammed Inuwa, lamented that the increasing activities of informants and those bent on sabotaging the ongoing joint operations against banditry attacks in Katsina State, is currently undermining efforts at achieving a quick end to the killings.

Mustapha who made the disclosure while addressing newsmen at the reception of two kidnapped victims that were rescued by the army on Friday night, lamented that informants had made it cumbersome for security agencies to tackle the wave of banditry in the state.

According to him, most of the hoodlums receive information from the people before launching deadly onslaughts on communities across the state. Even information on the movements of combat aircrafts and that of security operatives are easily laid bare on their door steps by unpatriotic citizens to enable them evade being captured.

He said the state government and security agencies had been making efforts in addressing banditry and kidnapping currently ravaging the state.

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Receiving two of the victims at Government House, the SGS said this was not the first time military operatives in the area have been rescuing kidnapped victims since the Federal Government ordered full military Intervention to the area.

He said “the military are dislodging the bandits in their hideout and have arrested so many them.

‘’the military operation would continue as Government is hoping that this would bring to an end, the activities of these bandits in the state, We are appealing to the residents of state to continue exercising patience as both the state and Federal Government will not rest until peace is returned to the state’’.

One of the rescued victim however, narrated his experience in the bush thus: “we met some Fulani while working in our farms and they started chasing us, so we ran and felled into a big hole and we surrendered all our possession to them, they took us to bush tied our eyes, legs and hands.

“We were only fed with garri for the past eight days in their hand, we were beaten 18 strokes of canes on daily basis, as they demanded N50 million ransoms to be paid for our released or they kill us.”