Iliyasu Abdullahi Bah
The Katsina State Government has revealed a disturbing pattern of local collaboration with bandits, with the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Nasir Mu’azu, disclosing during a Friday press briefing in Katsina that a staggering 80% of bandit attacks in the state are facilitated by community informants and supply networks that provide essential goods and intelligence to terrorists operating in forest hideouts.
Mu’azu explained that these collaborators engage in a range of criminal activities, from selling basic commodities at exorbitant prices including Coca-Cola at N3,000 per bottle and fuel at N5,000 per liter, supplying prescription medications and illicit drugs, creating a lucrative underground economy that sustains bandit operations.
The commissioner shared shocking cases of complicity, including one where a man conspired with bandits to kidnap his own diabetic father, and another where N30 million ransom was paid with N8 million going to the betraying family member.
Mu’azu further detailed how these informants actively undermine military operations by alerting bandits when Nigerian Air Force jets depart for bombing missions, allowing terrorists to scatter or hide among civilian populations, rendering airstrikes ineffective.
He emphasized that while bandits themselves constitute only 20% of the security challenge, their 80% support network makes them formidable, stressing that despite successes with kinetic military operations in several local government areas, lasting peace remains unattainable without severing these local supply chains and collaboration networks.
The commissioner made an urgent appeal for community cooperation, assuring confidential handling of intelligence, as he outlined the state’s dual-track approach combining kinetic military action with non-kinetic community engagement strategies to dry up the bandits’ support systems, noting that the war against banditry cannot be won without addressing this widespread local complicity that has created a dangerous symbiotic relationship between terrorists and segments of the population.