By Our Reporters

Katsina Governor Aminu Masari  has thrown more light on why he asked residents of the State to carry arms and defend themselves against bandits terrorising them.

It would be recalled that the Governor Masari had asked his citizens to pick up arms as they cannot fold their arms and allow the bandits kill them unnecessarily since there are no adequate security personnel to guard every community.

Masari, in an interview aired on Nagarta Radio, Kaduna and monitored by our correspondent, lamented bandits keep killing people despite the state government’s effort towards protecting residents.

He said: “It’s very important for the people to rise up and support the government effort. Apart from the money we are spending on security, hardly a day passes by without a person being killed or kidnapped. No single day, although the situation is not as bad as it was last year.

“We thank God for that but normalcy has not yet completely returned because just a few days ago about 10 people were killed in a village, how can you as a leader be okay with this situation?”

Going down memory lane, he said: “When we came on board in 2015 we inherited killings and banditry in the state. In 2014 there was a single attack that claimed over 100 lives around Faskari and Sabuwa LGAs. This is the situation we met on the ground happening daily because we always received reports of animal rustling and killings attributed to bandits and local vigilantes yan sakai in the state.

“At that time Fulani women had stopped coming to town and farmers too had stopped going to the bush.

“We later discovered that it was not a problem of Katsina state alone, it’s a problem that affected Niger, Zamfara , Kaduna states and later Sokoto , Kebbi and Jigawa.

“The military supported our steps which led to our meetings in Kaduna to find a solution. All security agencies were brought in and they all worked together for a year and recorded some successes.

“Then, we met with the Security Chiefs at defence headquarters but after a year it stopped. We were later asked to return home and handle the situation.