Northern Youth Assembly: Kano Not Bandits’ New Frontier

Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano

The Northern Youth Assembly (NYA) has dismissed a report labeling Kano as the “new bandits’ frontier” as baseless and misleading.

The group in a statement yesterday described the report as a deliberate attempt to smear the image of the state, which has historically shown resilience against insecurity.

The President and Secretary General of the NYA, Dr. Aliyu Mohammed and, Dr. Hafiz Garba, who signed the statement explained that  Kano has consistently demonstrated its ability to tackle security challenges, and the recent surge in banditry does not define the state’s overall security situation.

The statement noted that while public discourse on security is welcome, the article in question departs from facts, distorts historical context, and unarguably seeks to create panic rather than educate or enlighten the public.

The group stated that a thorough analysis revealed  that Kano is not a new frontier for banditry, but rather a state grappling with the consequences of insecurity spawned in neighbouring states and perpetuated by remnants of the previous administration within Kano itself.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the criminal elements currently troubling border communities were seeded, bred, and emboldened under the previous administration”

“Across multiple local governments, the last administration, allowed criminal gangs to flourish through evident lack of political will, failure to address youth unemployment, which pushed thousands into drugs, thuggery, and other forms of criminal activities and criminality.”

“Withdrawal of police personnel from known flashpoints in connivance with unpatriotic individuals and redeployed them to guard the Nassarawa royal graveyard, which was illegally converted into a refugee camp of sorts by a deposed Emir for himself and his rag tag entourage leaving vulnerable communities exposed,” the statement added.

“Neglected border  intelligence operations, thus allowing bandits to move freely between Katsina and the fringes of Kano state. These factual historical precedents were conveniently ignored in the publication,” the statement read in parts.

“When attacks occurred in Tsanyawa, Shanono and Ghari, the state government  deployed joint military and local intelligence structures, provided immediate humanitarian support to affected families, strengthened surveillance tools across border LGAs, reinforced collaboration with traditional rulers and vigilante units, directed emergency relocation of security formations to vulnerable axes,” they added.

The group urged the public to disregard the report and called on authorities to focus on addressing the security concerns rather than engaging in blame games.