The Katsina State Government has attributed 80% of the state’s ongoing security challenges to local communities and informants aiding criminals for financial gain.
State Commissioner for Internal Security, Nasir Muazu, disclosed this during a press briefing following a joint security meeting at the Government House in Katsina on Thursday, July 31, 2025.
Muazu revealed that investigations uncovered the complicity of some community members who provide services to hoodlums, exacerbating insecurity in the state.
He urged residents to cooperate with security agencies to curb the menace and restore peace.
“They sell items such as fuel to the hoodlums for N5,000 per litre while a bottle of soft drink goes for about N3,000,” he said.
Mu’azu stated that, with sufficient manpower in the security forces, insecurity would have been a thing of the past.
However, he attributed the prevalence of banditry and kidnapping in the state to the activities of bandits’ informants, who constitute about 80 percent of the problem.
“Why I said this, these bandits do not know where to buy all these things from, but some members of the communities who own shops sell their products to them at exorbitant prices, making. It is difficult to get their cooperation in a bid to address the security challenge,” he explained.
“In one of the communities affected by insecurity, a man was found to be selling a bottle of soft drink for N3,000, and another sold fuel for N5,000 per litre to bandits.
“Drugs that are usually sold for little amounts of money in pharmacies and other shops are sold in the millions of Naira by community members to the bandits."
He also lamented that some members of the communities also connive with bandits to abduct residents.
“In one of the cases we had, we found a man who connived with bandits to abduct his biological father, who was diabetic, for ransom. When the bandits took him to their hideout in the forest, they had already procured diabetic medication for his daily consumption.
"The total sum of N30 million was paid as ransom for the man, and N8 million was given to the son of the kidnapped man for compromising by allowing his father to be abducted.
"The informants are known to alert bandits whenever Nigeria Air Force jets leave the airport for an air strikes bandits’ hideouts, leading to unsuccessful missions,” Nasir said.
The commissioner, however, noted that the government has recorded significant success in the fight against insecurity in some local government areas through kinetic measures.
“However, non-kinetic measures are also important to ensure a lasting end to the insecurity,” he added.
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