Katsina Governor, Dikko Radda, has threatened to deal ruthlessly with any commissioner, traditional ruler or members of his cabinet caught aiding and abetting banditry in the state.

This was even as he stressed that though insurgency was a hydra-headed monster that had refused to go away, he would not negotiate with any bandit or group of criminals.

Radda told journalists at a media chat in Abuja on Friday that a lot of efforts had gone in to checkmate their incursions into the state to a minimal level.

He said, “As I speak to you, there are some traditional rulers that have been identified and those ones are already under scrutiny. We are not sparing anybody. I’m telling you that even my commissioners or anybody found to be involved in any criminal activity won’t be spared.

“We are talking about the lives of Katsina State people, not one single individual. No one single individual is more important than 10 million people, especially the lives of innocent persons in the village. We are trying as much as possible to see how we can gather a lot of information, together with the intelligence we are getting from the DSS so we can arrest and prosecute those found wanting.

“Since I became governor, there is no single day I won’t receive report of one kidnapping or people being killed and all sorts. This has been disturbing me. Sometimes it is difficult to open my phone because I knew what I would be confronted with.”

Continuing, the governor explained that at the inception of his administration, he recruited at least 1,500 community watch officers drawn from the eight frontline local governments to join the fight against insecurity in the state.

Culled from Punch