Some residents of the communities affected by banditry in the Kankara Local Government Area of Katsina State on Saturday urged the government to intensify efforts to protect their lives and property.

The people made the call during a peaceful protest to show their concern about how bandits were recurrently perpetuating their nefarious activities in the area.

The residents blocked the ever-busy Marabar-Kankara to Katsina and Kano State road, which linked Malumfashi to Funtua and Kaduna State.

One of the residents, Muhammad Sabiu, said they wanted the government to hasten tackling the problem ”because what is happening in these areas is bad.”

He listed the most affected areas as Malumfashi West, Burdugau, Unguwar-danguna, Yar-teba, Dangume, up to Yargoje.

“Right now, there are corpses of people killed by the bandits in the bush, and they have prevented us from evacuating them.

“The killings happened three days ago. That is what is happening day and night in our communities,” Mr Sabiu claimed.

He urged the state and federal governments to hasten measures to curtail the menace.

“They have even prevented some of us from farming, so life in those places has become extremely difficult,” he said.

Another resident, Salmanu Yusuf, said, “Most of the children around us are orphans, and they don’t have food to eat, so we need urgent support.”

On his part, Sagir Sa’ad also decried the high rate of insecurity in their areas.

“Right now, there are over 12 corpses of people killed by the bandits that have not evacuated,” he bemoaned.

When contacted, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Nasiru Muazu-Danmusa, said, ”It was over, and the protesters were already addressed by the Galadiman Katsina, district head of Malumfashi.”

The North-West Governors’ Forum and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) recently organised a security summit to address the lingering insecurity in the zone.

The two-day summit, held in Katsina on June 24, had the theme: “Regional Cooperation for securing lives and livelihoods”.

Governor Dikko Radda, the forum’s chairman, stressed the importance of confronting the menace collectively, saying,” because it is a concern to all.”

Mr Radda said their goal was to provide peace and ensure the security of lives and property in the region.

(NAN)