Some residents of Musawa and Matazu in Katsina State on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest over the bandit attacks which they described as persistent.
The residents who marched from Musawa to Marrabam Musawa within the local government area burned tyres on the major roads.
Expressing their anger, the protesters said they have been left at the mercy of the bandits who had been wreaking havoc on the communities.
They also accused Governor Dikko Radda of deliberately excluding Musawa and Matazu Constituency from a committee recently set up to recruit civilian JTF in the bandit-ravaged communities.
Speaking to DAILY NIGERIAN, a resident of Musawa, Labaran Abubakar, said the protest was aimed at drawing the attention of the governor to their plight.
“The protest is to draw the attention of the state government to our plight. There is not a single day that we don’t experience bandit attacks in Musawa and Matazu.
“They kidnapped and killed any living thing on sight. Be it a male, female child, or adult, they don’t spare anything.
“This has become a recurring trend in our communities. Once the rainy season sets in, we no longer have peace. For almost a month now, it’s been one attack or another.
“We have hoped that the current governor will tackle the issue of insecurity, because that was his major campaign promise.
“In fact, he promised to storm the forest with the security operatives, but unfortunately, the problem lingered.
“The governor also set up a committee recently to recruit civil JTF, in about eight local governments, but our constituencies were deliberately excluded. So these are some of our grievances with the state government,” he said.
Also speaking, a resident of Matazu, Abubakar Hamisu, lamented that many residents have abandoned their farm land for fear of bandit attacks.
“Our people can no longer access their farmlands for fear of bandit attacks. They attack us anytime they like.
“And these attacks have lingered for too long. About 8 months ago, my dad was killed in our community [Sayaya] by the gunmen and since then, many people have either been killed or kidnapped.
“The security forces posted to Matazu are grossly inadequate, and that’s why even if we make distress calls, sometimes they don’t respond,” he added.
When contacted, the council chairman of Musawa, Habibu Abdulkadir, said the grievances of the community had been presented to the governor.
He said: “We have been experiencing a spate of bandit attacks from neighbouring local governments for a while. That was the major cause of the protest. But even before the protest, I had presented our problems to the governor.
“On Monday, I had a meeting with the commissioner for internal security, and the following day he came to the Emir’s Palace to sympathise with us.
“And even yesterday [Wednesday], the chairmen of all the local governments affected by insecurity had a meeting with the governor.
“I have also distributed some palliatives to residents to cushion the effects of the current economic hardship.”
