Katsina Residents Proclaim Peace After 10 Years of Bandits’ Attacks

• Batsari to get five secondary schools

Francis Saesauna in Katsina

Residents of agrarian communities in Danmusa, Batsari and Jibia Local Government Areas of Katsina State are celebrating the return of peace to their domains after a prolonged crisis that left hundreds dead.

Danmusa, Batsari and Jibia are among the worst hit local governments in the violent campaign of bandits and other criminal elements that terrorised the state for over 10 years.

Communities in these local governments were razed, with property worth several millions of naira destroyed due to the nefarious activities of the marauding hoodlums.

But the residents, who spoke in separate interviews with THISDAY on the sideline of Governor Dikko Umaru Radda’s state-wide tour, said peace had “fully returned” to their communities.

One of the residents from Danmusa Local Government, Muntari Bello, said they had cultivated and harvested crops on arable farmlands that were “inaccessible five years ago”.

He explained that farmers who were ransacked from their ancestral homes by marauding bandits, had returned and commenced their farming and socio-economic activities in areas that were designated as bandits’ enclaves.

Bello, who hails from Domawa community of Danmusa Local Government, said: “We were displaced by bandits but we are back now because peace has returned.

“We planted and harvested different crops on farmlands that were even occupied by bandits. We are living in peace with them now because we engaged them in a dialogue.”

Another resident from Batsari, Jamilu Kabir, said the agrarian communities once abandoned their farmlands for fear of being killed but now gather in jubilation as a family.

He thanked the state and Federal Governments for restoring peace in their communities, adding however, that adequate security measures should be put in place to ensure the sustainability of the peace.

Fatima Abdulmumini from Jibia, a border town between Nigeria and Niger Republic, urged traditional and religious leaders and the government to maintain the peace that has been restored.

She recalled how bandits kidnapped and raped innocent women in communities across the border local government, noting that the return of such heinous acts would traumatize the recuperating victims.

However, Governor Dikko Umaru Radda, who joined the residents in celebrating the return of peace, promised to build five junior and senior secondary schools across communities in Batsari Local Government.

He flagged off the construction of township road awarded by the local government council, worth millions of naira, to boost transportation and economic activities in the area.

He also laid the foundation for the construction of a modern cassava processing factory in Batsari town to enable residents to produce garri for domestic consumption and exportation.