Katsina govt denies issuing houses, market stalls to bandits

Katsina State Government has denied issuing houses and market stalls to entice bandits to give up their criminal activities in the state.

In a statement, the Director, Media to Governor Aminu Bello Masari, Abdu Labaran Malunfashi said the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Mustapha Inuwa, who was credited the controversial story did not make a categorical declaration on the alleged move to give bandits houses and market stalls.

Daily Trust recalls that the controversy began during a briefing last week when the SSG was responding to a question on whether the government had included the herders in its social intervention programmes.

“We wanted to assist the women in particular because quite a number of their husbands were killed. But it is only when there’s peace to an appreciable level, as the government cannot do anything now,” the SSG had said.

The SSG said there are still a number of Fulani people living in the forests under harsh conditions but could not migrate as a result of the prevailing negative stereotype in which people perceive them as thieves.

He said, however, the government has a plan to regroup those settlements that are trapped in the forests and those that are willing to leave.

Dr Inuwa said after Runka, the project will move to Yantumaki, the forest between Yantumaki to Maidabino, to settle the Fulani. He said that clinics and markets will be built in the area and land space will be provided to build houses and for farmlands.

He said the programme will curtail activities of bandits and their ability to penetrate places like Zakka, Dutsinma as well as Yantumaki, Matazu, Musawa, among others.