Governor of Katsina State, Dikko Radda, has revealed that informants within government circles, security agencies, and local communities are supplying intelligence to bandits, helping them evade arrest and carry out attacks across the state.
Speaking during an exclusive interview with Channels Television, Radda said the activities of the informants were frustrating efforts to tackle insecurity in the state.
The governor specifically identified a notorious bandit leader known as Mohammed, alleging that he receives timely information from collaborators embedded within communities and official structures.
“This notorious person that is disturbing us — we know him. He is Mohammed; that is his name. Everybody knows him. His father, his mother, and his grandfather were born there. But the problem we have is the community. The communities are not giving the right information. I can say that, in a way, some of them are helping him,” Radda said.
According to the governor, sensitive security discussions are often leaked almost immediately after meetings are held.
“The day I called for a high-level security meeting here at the state government on how to operate and deal with the situation, five minutes after the meeting, he already knew what we had discussed.
“There are moles giving him information among us. In fact, he has even developed a new strategy where he incites villages to protest against the government so they can pressure the government not to pursue him,” he added.
Radda further alleged that informants within affected communities alert bandits whenever security personnel are mobilised for operations.
“Whenever there is information about an attack and security operatives move to the area, the moles within the community will call and inform him that security personnel are coming and which route they are taking, allowing them to lay ambushes for the security operatives,” he said.
“So, this is the kind of situation we are in. There are moles among us, moles among the security agencies, and moles among the communities.”
On the issue of negotiating with bandits, the governor said he initially opposed the idea but later allowed some communities to engage in dialogue after residents appealed for peace efforts.
“I was the one who initially took the position against negotiating with bandits. But when the situation became unbearable, the communities approached me and said, ‘Your Excellency, we have met with these people, they are ready to lay down their arms, and we have suffered so much without getting the protection we need from security agencies. Please allow us to negotiate with them if it can bring peace,’” he said.
Radda explained that although he did not personally participate in the negotiations, he permitted the communities to proceed.
“I told them they could go ahead, but I would not be part of it. So they proceeded,” he said.
The governor noted that some local governments that embraced peace deals with bandits have not experienced attacks for more than a year.
“As I speak with you today, there are some local governments that entered into peace negotiations with bandits, and for over a year, there have been no attacks in those places. We now have peace in most of the local governments where these incidents used to occur,” he said.
Radda, however, maintained that he would not personally initiate talks with bandits, stressing that any future negotiation would only happen from a position of strength.
“What we want is peace,” the governor added.
