The Katsina State government has banned the activities of ‘Yan Sa Kai’, a volunteer group across the state, with immediate effect.
The Special Adviser to the Katsina State Governor on Security Matters, Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmed Katsina, announced the ban in a statement yesterday.
He said, “Considering their overzealous criminal activities, leading to extrajudicial killings of innocent persons and looting their property under the guise of ‘Yan Sa Kai operations, police and other security agencies have, by this directive, been mandated to enforce the dismantling of all ‘Yan Sa Kai’ activities across the state, henceforth.”
He said the state government only recognised the activities of the vigilante group, which is under the supervision, control and monitoring of the police, other security agencies and traditional institutions.
“Henceforth, nobody should take the law into his own hands under whatever guise. Arrested suspects should be handed over to the police or any security agency for proper investigation and action where need be,” he added.
‘Yan Sa Kai’ in Katsina and other states battling banditry has been severally accused of fuelling insecurity through extrajudicial killings, sometimes involving innocent citizens.
Meanwhile, the Wazirin Katsina, Prof San Lugga, yesterday, said banditry and insurgency have led to the closure of all schools and other institutions in eight local government areas of Katsina State.
Prof Lugga stated this in Ilorin, Kwara State, at a strategic management retreat organised by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).
He noted that all the district heads of the eight local government areas had relocated to the state capital.
According to him, two major roads in the state have been closed to vehicular movement due to the activities of bandits.
He said, “There is no single day in the last two and half years that somebody will not be killed or abducted in the state.
“We are really in a state of war. It is more than conflict and the situation is worse than you think. Forget about what you are reading in the media. I am there and I know the reality.”
He further said he had been a member of no fewer than 48 presidential committees on insecurity in the country, lamenting that only one of the committees’ recommendations had been implemented.
Lugga identified poverty, unemployment, out-of-school children, the proliferation of light arms and ammunition, corruption, poor police welfare and misuse of religion as some of the causes of insecurity in the country.
He recommended the use of war contractors to end banditry and insurgency in the country.
