Gov. Aminu Bello-Masari of Katsina State says 10 out of the 34 Local Government Areas in the state are under severe attack daily by the bandits.
The governor disclosed this when he received the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen Faruk Yahaya, on a courtesy visit on Thursday.
He told the COAS that 10 local government areas have been under repeated attacks from bandits who kill, rape, injure the people, burn houses and rustle cattle.
According to Bello-Masari, Katsina State Government is totally unhappy with the current security situation in the state and therefore must be brought to an end.
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He restated that the issue of security in the country is a collective responsibility not only for the security agencies.
The governor described the insecurity level in Katsina as alarming, stressing that the insecurity issue in the state must be overcome and restore normalcy in the area.
“Here in Katsina, we have created three tiers of security success, from the community to the local, up to the state level, aimed at ensuring peace in our communities.
“We want peace restored as soon as possible and allow the military to go back to the barracks for the police to take over,” he said.
The governor further assured the COAS of the state government commitments in offering all the necessary support to enable the military discharge its duties effectively.
Earlier, the COAS told the governor that he was on operational visit to the state to interact with the troops in order to know their challenges.
According to him, the visit was also to seek for the continued support of the state government and commended the governor for his logistic and equipment support.
Yahaya assured the governor that the military would continue to work with other security agencies in the state to ensure relative peace.
He further called on the public to support the army in the discharge of their duties, especially by providing them with necessary information on criminals.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the COAS had earlier paid a similar visit to the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmuminu Kabir-Usman, who also expressed serious concern over the issue of insecurity in the state.
The Emir, therefore, appealed to the COAS to take all the necessary measures for Katsina communities to regain their peace and assured him of all the necessary support from the emirate. (NAN)