Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina State said his saddest moment was any time he received news of bandits’ attacks in the state.
Radda, who stated this on Wednesday in Katsina at a press briefing for his one year in office, also revealed that his elder brother was killed by bandits.
“My saddest moment is when I receive calls that people were killed, houses burnt and women raped by bandits in a particular village. The only way to appreciate that is to put yourself in their shoes, and you will feel it. I have developed that feeling and it remained with me because my senior brother was killed by bandits. He left behind three wives and 27 children,” he said
The governor noted that when his administration came on board, 22 out of the 34 local governments were severely affected by insecurity.
According to him, after the state government inaugurated the community security watch corps, the problem was drastically reduced.
He said that due to the intense pressure being mounted on the criminals, they have now resorted to attacking residents of hard-to-reach areas at night, making it difficult for the security operatives to respond easily.
The governor advocated the creation of state police in the country, saying: “Before I became governor, I was a critic of the state police. It is now that I see the importance of that.”
Radda further said that bad eggs in society are affecting the ongoing efforts in the fight against insecurity in the state.
“There was a village head who was arrested for collecting N700,000 to allow bandits to attack the village and kill over 30 people,” he said.