By Ado Umar Lalu and Shamsu Mohammed Funtua
For over a decade Katsina State is one of the states devastated by the activities of bandits that makes the victims to live in the most difficult, miserable and pathetic conditions.
It starts with cattle rustling and later graduated to banditry and kidnapping of innocent citizens for ransoms. The campaigns of violence of bandits in the state, greatly undermined and affected their socioeconomic wellbeing and people living in the areas affected or passing through to their various destinations.
People from far and near cried out several times calling for decisive actions to deal with the problems of banditry in the state and justice for the victims. Protections of lives and properties of the citizens is one of the most important duties and functions of the government which must be discharged with all the seriousness it deserves.
The essence of criminal justice system is to protect the citizens against the actual and perceived threats of crime and criminal on one, and punish the wrongdoers on the other hand that will serve as a deterrence to convicted criminals to achieve both specific and general deterrence.
From the beginning of cattle rustling to full fledged banditry in Katsina State to date, people were not satisfied with the way and manner the successive governments handled these problems that resulted to the death of hundreds, incapacitated thousands, forced thousands to migrates to safe places or live in Internally Displaced Persons camps, losing money and properties worth hundreds of millions or billions of naira.
To our greatest dismay, whenever attempts were made to find lasting solutions to the problems of cattle rustling, banditry and kidnapping in some local government areas in the state, preferential treatments and provisions for resettlement were given to the bandits who makes the lives of citizens miserable, while the victims were left with something meager which will not help them cope with life and forget the fast horrible experiences and memories.
The devastating effects of banditry forced the people that lives in the areas affected to leave their major occupation and main economic activities of farming and rearing of animals to live in abject poverty.
This is due to the facts that, bandits systematically and forcefully through cattle rustling makes farming and rearing of cattle impossible. Later through kidnapping, victims losses billions of naira to freed their captive families and friends. Some were forced to sold their farms at cheaper prices to save and secure the freedom of their loved ones. All these were not enough, the bandits now are targeting teenage girls in continuation of their campaigns of violence. With the new trends daughters, sisters and their parents were no longer safe even if they sent them to safer places their lives were threatened.
However, at this critical time of our existence as a state, concerned people were shocked upon the revelations of the government plans for the resettlement of the bandits at the times the victims of banditry are desperately in needs of special care and provisions from the government.
Many public commentators have spoken against this terrible and unpardonable decision. This a clear attack on their psyches particularly the widows, orphans, victims of rape and those rendered homeless and poor as a result of banditry to watch their attackers resettlement while the have nowhere to go.
Certainly it is not easy to force or persuade our government to drop this bad idea, but it will witchhunt the government before and after leaving office because the state will be gradually drift into anarchy where lawlessness pays.
Ado Umar Lalu and Shamsu Mohammed Funtua writes from Katsina State
