Banditry kingpins in Katsina State have signed an agreement to stop attacking communities in Safana Local Government Area.
Locals and security sources in the state told PREMIUM TIMES that local bandit leaders and others from neighbouring Zamfara State gathered in Gimi forest on Sunday in the Safana local council area to sign the deal.
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The district heads of Safana or Yariman Katsina, Sada Rufa’i; the district head of Zakka, Sani Muhammad, and the council chairperson, Abdullahi Sani, attended the meeting.
A resident, Muhammad Haruna, who was at the meeting, said the bandits agreed to reopen several local roads, including the Runka-Kukur- samu road. In return, the residents and council officials agreed to halt the activities of vigilante groups in the area.
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Mr Haruna said the roads had been closed due to rampant bandits’ attacks.
He said the traditional leaders and the local government chairperson gyaranteed that Fulanis would no longer be attacked in the towns and local markets by vigilantes.
The bandits had decried the exclusion of members of Fulani settlements from social services and amenities, including healthcare.
A terrorist leader, ‘Dan da, said to operate around the Batsari and Safana border communities, attended the meeting.
Usman Idris, aka ‘Ruga Kachallah’, and Sani Gurgu, two of the 43 terrorists the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) declared wanted, also turned up at the meeting.
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Mr Rugga, in an exclusive interview with this newspaper in August 2021, explained why he gave conditions for peace in Safana Local Government Area of Katsina State after security agents burnt his residence and arrested his wives.
Unlike most bandits, Mr Kachallah was not hiding in the forest. He lived in Gimi with his family, before he relocated to the bush. He had publicly renounced banditry but had always eaten his words.
In Tulumbusawa, ‘Yartsaku, Makera, Gimi and Chirana in Safana LGA, locals obeyed his orders and sought his permission to cultivate their farmlands. In Runka town, the second largest community in Safana LGA, farmers also submitted to the reign of the banditry kingpin.
In 2016, Mr Kachallah had joined other kingpins, including Abdullahi Karki, to renounce banditry at a ceremony attended by the then Secretary to the Government of Katsina State, Mustapha Inuwa, in Illela town of Safana LGA.
But soon after the ceremony, Mr Kachallah resumed his reign of terror. His father, Idris Maza, who hailed from Sullubawa in Safana LGA, also relocated to Banki in the Anchau Local Government Area of Kaduna State, complaining that he could not stop his son from banditry.
Time will tell whether the bandits will respect the latest deal or return to their old ways.
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